Overview
- The peer-reviewed study, published Jan. 14 in Genome Biology and Evolution, analyzed a 14,400-year-old woolly rhino tissue fragment recovered from a permafrost-preserved wolf in northeastern Siberia.
- Radiocarbon dating and whole-genome sequencing identify the sample as one of the youngest known individuals of the species, allowing rare near-terminal insights.
- Pooling DNA from 21 extracts and applying shotgun sequencing, the team assembled a near-complete genome despite heavy contamination from the wolf’s DNA.
- Comparative analyses with two older genomes (about 18,000 and 49,000 years old) found stable heterozygosity, short runs of homozygosity, and no recent genetic load increase, indicating minimal inbreeding before extinction.
- Demographic modeling points to a relatively sudden late collapse likely linked to rapid warming at the end of the last Ice Age, with an earlier bottleneck between roughly 114,000 and 63,000 years ago followed by long stability.