title: Ancient DNA analysis reveals woolly rhino evolutionary relationships.
abstract: With ancient DNA technology, DNA sequences have been added to the list of characters available to infer the phyletic position of extinct species in evolutionary trees. We have sequenced the entire 12S rRNA and partial cytochrome b (cyt b) genes of one 60-70,000-year-old sample, and partial 12S rRNA and cyt b sequences of two 40-45,000-year-old samples of the extinct woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). Based on these two mitochondrial markers, phylogenetic analyses show that C. antiquitatis is most closely related to one of the three extant Asian rhinoceros species, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. Calculations based on a molecular clock suggest that the lineage leading to C. antiquitatis and D. sumatrensis diverged in the Oligocene, 21-26 MYA. Both results agree with morphological models deduced from palaeontological data. Nuclear inserts of mitochondrial DNA were identified in the ancient specimens. These data should encourage the use of nuclear DNA in future ancient DNA studies. It also further establishes that the degraded nature of ancient DNA does not completely protect ancient DNA studies based on mitochondrial data from the problems associated with nuclear inserts.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 5534, Centre de Génétique Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 16 rue R. Dubois, Bâtiment G. Mendel, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orlando
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thenot
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Laudet
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guerin
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hänni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005580:Fossils; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010527:Perissodactyla / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; C075526:RNA, ribosomal, 12S; D045303:Cytochromes b