Overview
- The peer‑reviewed paper in Mobile DNA analyzed RNA from 17 adult bears and reports the first statistically significant link between temperature and DNA activity in a wild mammal.
- Bears from warmer, more variable southeastern Greenland showed markedly higher transposon activity than those from the colder northeast.
- Affected pathways centered on heat stress, ageing and metabolism, with many signals near protein‑coding regions that influence basic cellular functions.
- Expression shifts included genes tied to fat processing, aligning with observations that southeastern bears rely more on lower‑fat, land‑based foods when sea ice recedes.
- Authors caution the findings do not demonstrate heritable adaptation or reduced extinction risk, urging expanded sampling across roughly 20 sub‑populations plus continued emissions cuts and conservation.