PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The Chauvet-Pont-d\'Arc Cave (Ardèche, France) contains some of the oldest Paleolithic paintings recorded to date, as well as thousands of bones of the extinct cave bear, and some remains and footprints of other animals. As part of the interdisciplinary research project devoted to this reference cave site, we analyzed a coprolite collected within the deep cave. AMS radiocarbon dating of bone fragments from the coprolite yielded an age of 30,450 ± 550 RC yr. BP (AAR-19656; 36,150-34,000 cal BP), similar to ages assigned to Paleolithic artwork and cave bear remains from the same cave sector. Using high-throughput shotgun DNA sequencing, we demonstrated a high abundance of canid DNA and lesser amounts of DNA from the extinct cave bear. We interpret the sample as feces from a canid that had consumed cave bear tissue. The high amount of canid DNA allowed us to reconstruct a complete canid mitochondrial genome sequence (average coverage: 83×) belonging to a deeply divergent clade of extinct mitochondrial wolf lineages that are most closely related to coeval (~35 ka) Belgian wolves. Analysis of the nuclear genome yielded a similar coverage for the X chromosome (2.4×) and the autosomes (range: 2.3-3.2×), indicating that the Chauvet canid was a female. Comparing the relationship of the nuclear genome of this specimen with that of a variety of canids, we found it more closely related to gray wolves\' genomes than to other wild canid or dog genomes, especially wolf genomes from Europe and the Middle East. We conclude that the coprolite is feces from an animal within an extinct wolf lineage. The consumption of cave bear by this wolf likely explains its intrusion into the dark cave sectors and sheds new light on the paleoecology of a major cave site.
摘要：
Chauvet-Pont-d\'弧洞（Ardèche，法国）包含迄今为止记录的一些最古老的旧石器时代绘画，以及成千上万的已灭绝的洞穴熊的骨头，以及其他动物的一些遗骸和脚印。作为这个参考洞穴遗址的跨学科研究项目的一部分，我们分析了在深洞中收集的一种coprolite。AMS放射性碳测年来自coprolite的骨碎片的年龄为30,450±550RC年。BP（AAR-19656；36,150-34,000卡BP），类似于分配给旧石器时代的艺术品和来自同一洞穴区域的洞穴熊遗骸的年龄。使用高通量鸟枪DNA测序，我们展示了大量的犬科动物DNA和少量的来自已灭绝的洞穴熊的DNA。我们将样本解释为来自消耗了洞穴熊组织的犬科动物的粪便。大量的canidDNA使我们能够重建完整的canid线粒体基因组序列（平均覆盖率：83×），属于与同时代（〜35ka）比利时狼最密切相关的已灭绝线粒体狼谱系进化枝。对核基因组的分析对X染色体（2.4×）和常染色体（范围：2.3-3.2×）产生了相似的覆盖率，表明Chauvetcanid是雌性.比较该标本的核基因组与各种犬科动物的关系，我们发现它与灰狼的基因组比与其他野生犬科动物或狗的基因组更密切相关，尤其是来自欧洲和中东的狼基因组.我们得出的结论是，coprolite是来自已灭绝的狼血统中的动物的粪便。这只狼对洞穴熊的消耗可能解释了它对黑暗洞穴区域的入侵，并为主要洞穴遗址的古生态提供了新的启示。
