Woolly mammoths experienced a genomic meltdown just before extinction
Genome comparison study has implications for animal conservation and evolutionary theory
Date:
March 2, 2017
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
Dwindling populations created a 'mutational meltdown' in the genomes of the last woolly mammoths, which had survived on an isolated island until a few thousand years ago, report researchers.
FULL STORY
Mammoth skeleton (stock image).
Credit: © Miz3D / Fotolia
Dwindling populations created a "mutational meltdown" in the genomes of the last wooly mammoths, which had survived on an isolated island until a few thousand years ago. Rebekah Rogers and Montgomery Slatkin of the University of California, Berkeley, report these findings in a study published March 2nd, 2017 in PLOS Genetics.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170302143933.htm