近日，Federico Sánchez-Quinto及其课题组报道了来自墨西哥的哥伦比亚猛犸象有丝分裂基因组揭示了该物种复杂的进化史。这一研究成果发表在2025年8月28日出版的国际学术期刊《科学》上。

在这项研究中，该研究组从墨西哥中部的墨西哥盆地生成了61个捕获富集的哥伦比亚分枝杆菌有丝分裂基因组。他们的分析表明，这些有丝分裂基因组属于与其他北美猛犸象不同的线粒体谱系。这些不同的有丝分裂基因组表明了它们祖先的深层种群结构，并挑战了基于地理限制样本的先前假设。他们的发现强调了更广泛的空间采样对重建猛犸象进化史的重要性，并证明了研究热带纬度巨型动物的可行性。

据了解，古基因组学研究表明，哥伦比亚猛犸象起源于原始猛犸象和穴居猛犸象之间的古代杂交。虽然它的栖息地从北美跨越到中美洲，但现有的基因数据仅限于温带地区，这使得人们对该物种在美洲大陆的人口统计历史的了解存在空白。

附：英文原文

Title: Columbian mammoth mitogenomes from Mexico uncover the species’ complex evolutionary history

Author: Eduardo Arrieta-Donato, ángeles Tavares-Guzmán, Miriam Bravo-Lopez, Viridiana Villa-Islas, Alejandra Castillo-Carbajal, Wenxi Li, Ernesto Garfias-Morales, Rigoberto Padilla-Bustos, Marcela Sandoval-Velasco, Luis Córdoba-Barradas, Ruben Manzanilla-López, J. Camilo Chacón-Duque, Alejandro López-Jímenez, Mashaal Sohail, Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, María C. ávila-Arcos, Federico Sánchez-Quinto

Issue&Volume: 2025-08-28

Abstract: Paleogenomic studies suggest that Mammuthus columbi derives from an ancient hybridization between Mammuthus primigenius and Mammuthus trogontherii. While its habitat spanned from North to Central America, available genetic data are limited to temperate regions, leaving gaps in knowledge of the species’ demographic history on the continent. In this study, we generated 61 capture-enriched M. columbi mitogenomes from the Basin of Mexico, in Central Mexico. Our analysis reveals that these mitogenomes belong to a mitochondrial lineage distinct from other North American mammoths. These divergent mitogenomes suggest a deep population structure in their ancestors, and challenge prior assumptions based on geographically restricted samples. Our findings underscore the importance of wider spatial sampling to reconstruct mammoths’ evolutionary history and demonstrate the feasibility of studying megafauna from tropical latitudes.

DOI: adt9651

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt9651