Dataset Information

Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti.

ABSTRACT: Although anecdotally associated with local bears (Ursus arctos and U. thibetanus), the exact identity of 'hominid'-like creatures important to folklore and mythology in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region is still surrounded by mystery. Recently, two purported yeti samples from the Himalayas showed genetic affinity with an ancient polar bear, suggesting they may be from previously unrecognized, possibly hybrid, bear species, but this preliminary finding has been under question. We conducted a comprehensive genetic survey of field-collected and museum specimens to explore their identity and ultimately infer the evolutionary history of bears in the region. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences determined clade affinities of the purported yeti samples in this study, strongly supporting the biological basis of the yeti legend to be local, extant bears. Complete mitochondrial genomes were assembled for Himalayan brown bear (U. a. isabellinus) and black bear (U. t. laniger) for the first time. Our results demonstrate that the Himalayan brown bear is one of the first-branching clades within the brown bear lineage, while Tibetan brown bears diverged much later. The estimated times of divergence of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan bear lineages overlap with Middle to Late Pleistocene glaciation events, suggesting that extant bears in the region are likely descendants of populations that survived in local refugia during the Pleistocene glaciations.

SUBMITTER: Lan T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5740279 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti.

Lan Tianying T Gill Stephanie S Bellemain Eva E Bischof Richard R Nawaz Muhammad Ali MA Lindqvist Charlotte C

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20171201 1868

Although anecdotally associated with local bears (<i>Ursus arctos</i> and <i>U. thibetanus</i>), the exact identity of 'hominid'-like creatures important to folklore and mythology in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region is still surrounded by mystery. Recently, two purported yeti samples from the Himalayas showed genetic affinity with an ancient polar bear, suggesting they may be from previously unrecognized, possibly hybrid, bear species, but this preliminary finding has been under question. We ...[more]

PMID: 29187630

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Project description:In response to past climatic changes, the species with different habits or adaptive traits likely have experienced very different evolutionary histories, especially for species that restricted to high mountain areas. In order to trace how Quaternary climatic oscillations affected range distributions and intraspecific divergence of such alpine plants on the Tibetan Plateau, here, we investigated maternally inherited chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) markers and biparentally inherited nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) DNA variations and aimed to explore the phylogeographic history of the endemic alpine species Corydalis hendersonii Hemsl. (Papaveraceae). We sequenced four cpDNA fragments (trnS-trnG, trnT-trnL, atpH-atpI, and psbE-petL) and also the nuclear (ITS) region in 368 individuals from 30 populations across the species' range. The network and phylogenetic analysis based on cpDNA variations identified 15 chlorotypes that cluster into three distinct clades. However, our nuclear DNA results demonstrated that there were four genetic/geographical groups within C. hendersonii. Some common and highly divergent cpDNA and ITS haplotypes were distributed in the populations of central and northeastern Tibetan Plateau, and the highest nucleotide diversity and genetic differentiation were detected in the central region. Demographic tests further indicated that the populations of southwestern and western Tibet may have experienced recent range expansion, which most likely occurred during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and continued its expansion after the beginning of the Holocene. These two different groups of this species may have derived from potential refugia that existed in the central and/or northeastern regions of Tibet during recent interglacial periods. In addition, our AMOVA analyses detected high genetic differentiation along with the whole sampling range. Also, distinct phylogeographic structures were detected among populations of C. hendersonii based on both of cpDNA and ITS variation. These findings shed new light on the importance of climatic oscillations during Quaternary and complex local topography as causes of intraspecific diversification and demographic changes within cold-tolerant herbs in the Tibetan Plateau biodiversity hotspot.

Dataset Information

Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti.

Publications

Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti.

Similar Datasets

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