The results of searching the family tree of the woolly mammoth have been surprising; it turns out the beasts we most closely associate with the Ice Age emerged not from a linear lineage, but a relatively complex web of genetic diversity.
A study examining 34 mammoth mitochondrial genomes, with specimens spanning a million years, gives us a glimpse of mammoth evolution. Mitochondrial DNA is a circular strand found in each cell’s powerhouse. It helps researchers trace lineage on the maternal side and is useful to paleontologists because it resists breaking down, unlike less hardy genetic material.
Researchers studied mammoth mitochondrial DNA from as far back as 1.3 million years, with the most recent based on genetic material from a relatively recent mammoth from about 125,000 years ago. The study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, describes mammoth evolutionary history over a million years.
