Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
GE and Science Prize for Young Life Scientists

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 7 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5783, p. 62
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128994
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Brevia

Nuclear Gene Indicates Coat-Color Polymorphism in Mammoths

Holger Römpler,1 Nadin Rohland,2 Carles Lalueza-Fox,3 Eske Willerslev,4 Tatyana Kuznetsova,5 Gernot Rabeder,6 Jaume Bertranpetit,7 Torsten Schöneberg,1 Michael Hofreiter2*

By amplifying the melanocortin type 1 receptor from the woolly mammoth, we can report the complete nucleotide sequence of a nuclear-encoded gene from an extinct species. We found two alleles and show that one allele produces a functional protein whereas the other one encodes a protein with strongly reduced activity. This finding suggests that mammoths may have been polymorphic in coat color, with both dark- and light-haired individuals co-occurring.

1 Molecular Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
2 Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
3 Departament de Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
4 Ancient DNA and Evolution Group, Centre for Ancient Genetics, Niels Bohr Institute and Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
5 Department of Paleontology, Faculty of Geology, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia.
6 Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
7 Unitat de Biologia Evolutiva, Facultat de Ciéncies de la Salut i de la Vida, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hofreite{at}eva.mpg.de

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Molecular cloning and pharmacological characterization of porcine melanocortin-3 receptor.
Z.-C. Fan, J. L Sartin, and Y.-X. Tao (2008)
J. Endocrinol. 196, 139-148
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Parallel Evolution of Pitx1 Underlies Pelvic Reduction in Scottish Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
S. M. Coyle, F. A. Huntingford, and C. L. Peichel (2007)
J. Hered. 98, 581-586
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High Diversity in Functional Properties of Melanocortin 1 Receptor (MC1R) in Divergent Primate Species Is More Strongly Associated with Phylogeny than Coat Color.
T. Haitina, A. Ringholm, J. Kelly, N. I. Mundy, and H. B. Schioth (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 2001-2008
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Absence of the lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans.
J. Burger, M. Kirchner, B. Bramanti, W. Haak, and M. G. Thomas (2007)
PNAS 104, 3736-3741
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
G Protein-Coupled Time Travel: Evolutionary Aspects of GPCR Research.
H. Rompler, C. Staubert, D. Thor, A. Schulz, M. Hofreiter, and T. Schoneberg (2007)
Mol. Interv. 7, 17-25
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Inaugural Article: Patterns of nucleotide misincorporations during enzymatic amplification and direct large-scale sequencing of ancient DNA.
M. Stiller, R. E. Green, M. Ronan, J. F. Simons, L. Du, W. He, M. Egholm, J. M. Rothberg, S. G. Keates, N. D. Ovodov, et al. (2006)
PNAS 103, 13578-13584
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products