Preservation of DNA in Pleistocene and Holocene Ursid samples from the NW of the Iberian Peninsula
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Abstract
In this paper we present 73 short mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences obtained from 30 brown bear (Ursus arctos) and 56 cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) samples in several cave sites of Northwestern Iberian Peninsula (Galicia and Asturias), of Holocene and Pleistocene ages. The technique used was PCR amplification of small mtDNA fragments and the subsequent Sanger sequencing of PCR products. In total, 6 different haplotypes were obtained for the brown bear and two for the cave bear. The high success rate of PCR amplifications (85%, 73 positive amplifications out of a total of 86 samples) demonstrates the good conditions of the Sierra do Courel caves for the preservation of DNA in fossil bone remains, even for tens of millennia old.
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