Chromosome-scale Genomes Show Rapid Diversification and Ancient Gene Flow Among Bear Species.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructions of evolutionary history can be restricted by a lack of high-quality reference genomes. To date, only four of the eight species of bears (family Ursidae) have chromosome-level genome assemblies. Here, we present assemblies for three additional species-the sun, sloth, and Andean bears-and use a whole-genome alignment of all bear species and other carnivores to reconstruct the evolution of Ursidae. Multiple divergence dating approaches suggest that the six Ursine bears likely diversified in the last 5 Ma, but that divergence times within Ursinae are significantly impacted by gene tree heterogeneity. Consistent with this, we observe that nearly 50% of gene trees conflict with our highly supported species tree, a pattern driven by a significant early hybridization event within U

SUBMITTER: Wooldridge TB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12631120 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature