Hunting the Extinct Steppe Bison (Bison priscus) Mitochondrial Genome in the Trois-Freres Paleolithic Painted Cave.

ABSTRACT: Despite the abundance of fossil remains for the extinct steppe bison (Bison priscus), an animal that was painted and engraved in numerous European Paleolithic caves, a complete mitochondrial genome sequence has never been obtained for this species. In the present study we collected bone samples from a sector of the Trois-Frères Paleolithic cave (Ariège, France) that formerly functioned as a pitfall and was sealed before the end of the Pleistocene. Screening the DNA content of the samples collected from the ground surface revealed their contamination by Bos DNA. However, a 19,000-year-old rib collected on a rock apart the pathway delineated for modern visitors was devoid of such contaminants and reproducibly yielded Bison priscus DNA. High-throughput shotgun sequencing combined with convent

SUBMITTER: Marsolier-Kergoat MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4471230 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature