Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leo ssp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity.
Lions were the most widespread carnivores in the late Pleistocene, ranging from southern Africa to the southern USA, but little is known about the evolutionary relationships among these Pleistocene populations or the dynamics that led to their extinction. Using ancient DNA techniques, we obtained mitochondrial sequences from 52 individuals sampled across the present and former range of lions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three distinct clusters: (i) modern lions, Panthera leo; (ii) extinct Pleistocene cave lions, which formed a homogeneous population extending from Europe across Beringia (Siberia, Alaska and western Canada); and (iii) extinct American lions, which formed a separate population south of the Pleistocene ice sheets. The American lion appears to have become genetically isolated around 340 000 years ago, despite the apparent lack of significant barriers to gene flow with Beringian populations through much of the late Pleistocene. We found potential evidence of a severe population bottleneck in the cave lion during the previous interstadial, sometime after 48 000 years, adding to evidence from bison, mammoths, horses and brown bears that megafaunal populations underwent major genetic alterations throughout the last interstadial, potentially presaging the processes involved in the subsequent end-Pleistocene mass extinctions.
Barnett
Ross
R
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. drrossbarnett@gmail.com
Shapiro
Beth
B
Barnes
Ian
I
Ho
Simon Y W
SY
Burger
Joachim
J
Yamaguchi
Nobuyuki
N
Higham
Thomas F G
TF
Wheeler
H Todd
HT
Rosendahl
Wilfried
W
Sher
Andrei V
AV
Sotnikova
Marina
M
Kuznetsova
Tatiana
T
Baryshnikov
Gennady F
GF
Martin
Larry D
LD
Harington
C Richard
CR
Burns
James A
JA
Cooper
Alan
A
D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005580:Fossils; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D008045:Lions / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial