title: Complete Columbian mammoth mitogenome suggests interbreeding with woolly mammoths.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Late Pleistocene North America hosted at least two divergent and ecologically distinct species of mammoth: the periglacial woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and the subglacial Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). To date, mammoth genetic research has been entirely restricted to woolly mammoths, rendering their genetic evolution difficult to contextualize within broader Pleistocene paleoecology and biogeography. Here, we take an interspecific approach to clarifying mammoth phylogeny by targeting Columbian mammoth remains for mitogenomic sequencing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We sequenced the first complete mitochondrial genome of a classic Columbian mammoth, as well as the first complete mitochondrial genome of a North American woolly mammoth. Somewhat contrary to conventional paleontological models, which posit that the two species were highly divergent, the M. columbi mitogenome we obtained falls securely within a subclade of endemic North American M. primigenius.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though limited, our data suggest that the two species interbred at some point in their evolutionary histories. One potential explanation is that woolly mammoth haplotypes entered Columbian mammoth populations via introgression at subglacial ecotones, a scenario with compelling parallels in extant elephants and consistent with certain regional paleontological observations. This highlights the need for multi-genomic data to sufficiently characterize mammoth evolutionary history. Our results demonstrate that the use of next-generation sequencing technologies holds promise in obtaining such data, even from non-cave, non-permafrost Pleistocene depositional contexts.
authors.affiliation: McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L9, Canada. enkjm@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Enk
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Devault
authors.forename: Regis
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Debruyne
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Treangen
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Rourke
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Salzberg
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: MacPhee
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poinar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004606:Elephants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D006239:Haplotypes; D056665:Mammoths / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D009656:North America; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013020:South America
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial