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Originally published in Science Express on 2 June 2005
Science 22 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5734, pp. 597 - 599
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113485
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Reports

Genomic Sequencing of Pleistocene Cave Bears

James P. Noonan,1,2 Michael Hofreiter,3 Doug Smith,1 James R. Priest,2 Nadin Rohland,3 Gernot Rabeder,4 Johannes Krause,3 J. Chris Detter,1,5 Svante Pääbo,3 Edward M. Rubin1,2*

Despite the greater information content of genomic DNA, ancient DNA studies have largely been limited to the amplification of mitochondrial sequences. Here we describe metagenomic libraries constructed with unamplified DNA extracted from skeletal remains of two 40,000-year-old extinct cave bears. Analysis of ~1 megabase of sequence from each library showed that despite significant microbial contamination, 5.8 and 1.1% of clones contained cave bear inserts, yielding 26,861 base pairs of cave bear genome sequence. Comparison of cave bear and modern bear sequences revealed the evolutionary relationship of these lineages. The metagenomic approach used here establishes the feasibility of ancient DNA genome sequencing programs.

1 United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA.
2 Genomics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
3 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany.
4 Institute of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Vienna, A-1010 Austria.
5 Biosciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.

Published online 2 June 2005

Include this information when citing this paper.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: emrubin{at}lbl.gov

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