Biology subjects

Kosintsev, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Kosintsev, P..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

The population structure and genetic health of European wolves

Once nearly eradicated from Europe, grey wolves (Canis lupus) have recently undergone a remarkable demographic recovery, but their long-term survival remains precarious. By analyzing 1,001 genomes, we uncover a mosaic of distinct evolutionary lineages, not a single recovering population. Northern populations exhibit Asian wolf ancestry, while southern populations preserve ancient Holocene lineages, with dog introgression varying by region. Isolated wolves from the Scandinavian, Italian, and Iberian peninsulas harbored particularly high levels of inbreeding and fixed deleterious mutations. Signatures of genome erosion were widespread across Europe, with many populations falling well short of the minimum size recommended for long-term survival. Our study reveals the complex tapestry of wolf ancestry and variation across Europe, which calls for nuanced, regional conservation plans founded in genetic monitoring.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2025

VARIATION IN GAME AND DOMESTIC ANIMAL RATIOS IN THE 7TH - 5TH MILLENNIA BCE IN THE LOWER VOLGA REGION

This paper presents the results of analysis of the species composition found in sites dating to the 7th - 5th millennia BCE. These sites are either monocultural, or multicultural where the cultural layers belonging to different periods are separated from each other by sterile layers. As a result, we were able to trace the variation through time in the ratios of game/domestic animals in the Neolithic - Eneolithic periods. In the Early Neolithic, the kulan was the main game animal. During the Middle and Late Neolithic, hunting was diversified and such animals as saiga, aurochs, and horse, along with kulan, became the main target species. In the Early Eneolithic, the first domestic animals, i.e. sheep and goats, appeared. Cattle appeared in the Late Eneolithic. The share of game animals during this period sharply decreased, even to the point of the complete disappearance of such species as aurochs and horse.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Bronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineage

Most human pathogens are of zoonotic origin. Many emerged during prehistory, coinciding with domestication providing more opportunities for spillover from original host species. However, we lack direct evidence linking past animal reservoirs and human infections. Here we present a Yersinia pestis genome recovered from a 3rd millennium BCE domesticated sheep from the Eurasian Steppe belonging to the Late Neolithic Bronze Age (LNBA) lineage, until now exclusively identified in ancient humans across Eurasia. We show that this ancient lineage underwent ancestral gene decay paralleling extant lineages, but evolved under distinct selective pressures contributing to its lack of geographic differentiation. We collect evidence supporting a scenario where the LNBA lineage, unable to efficiently transmit via fleas, spread from an unidentified reservoir to humans via sheep and likely other domesticates. Collectively, our results connect prehistoric livestock with infectious disease in humans and showcase the power of moving paleomicrobiology into the zooarcheological record.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2024

Complex genomic ancestry in southern regions and drivers of continental-level genetic diversity in the wolves of Asia

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Asia encompass most of the species global genetic diversity and many endangered populations. However, a clear understanding of the evolutionary history of wolves from many parts of Asia, especially southern regions, is lacking. We used 98 whole genomes of wolves sampled across Eurasia to better resolve their evolutionary history by investigating phylogenetic and gene flow histories across the genome, and to characterize their demographic history and genetic diversity. The strongest barriers to gene flow coincided with boundaries separating the three major extant wolf lineages - Indian, Tibetan, and Holarctic. Wolves in the central Asian mountain ranges belonged to the Holarctic lineage, and despite their geographic adjacency only share minimal ancestry with the Tibetan lineage. In contrast, wolves from eastern Asia share population-wide ancestry with the Tibetan lineage, which may reflect an unsampled lineage similar, but not exactly to, the modern-day Tibetan lineage. Wolves from southwestern Asia also share population-wide ancestry with the Indian lineage, likely due to old (>6kya) admixture events. Long-term historical declines over the last 100,000 years, geographic isolation, and recent inbreeding have resulted in the Indian and Tibetan wolves having some of the lowest levels of genetic diversity and highest realized genetic loads. In contrast, adjacent populations exhibit some of the highest genetic diversity, due in part to admixture along contact zones. Our study illustrates how using multiple approaches that consider heterogenous signals across the genome can more fully resolve the historical and contemporary processes that have led to present-day species diversity.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric mobility associated with the spread of the Uralic and Yeniseian languages

The North Eurasian forest and forest-steppe zones have sustained millennia of sociocultural connections among northern peoples. We present genome-wide ancient DNA data for 181 individuals from this region spanning the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age. We find that Early to Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer populations from across the southern forest and forest-steppes of Northern Eurasia can be characterized by a continuous gradient of ancestry that remained stable for millennia, ranging from fully West Eurasian in the Baltic region to fully East Asian in the Transbaikal region. In contrast, cotemporaneous groups in far Northeast Siberia were genetically distinct, retaining high levels of continuity from a population that was the primary source of ancestry for Native Americans. By the mid-Holocene, admixture between this early Northeastern Siberian population and groups from Inland East Asia and the Amur River Basin produced two distinctive populations in eastern Siberia that played an important role in the genetic formation of later people. Ancestry from the first population, Cis-Baikal Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Cisbaikal_LNBA), is found substantially only among Yeniseian-speaking groups and those known to have admixed with them. Ancestry from the second, Yakutian Late Neolithic-Bronze Age (Yakutia_LNBA), is strongly associated with present-day Uralic speakers. We show how Yakutia_LNBA ancestry spread from an east Siberian origin [~]4.5kya, along with subclades of Y-chromosome haplogroup N occurring at high frequencies among present-day Uralic speakers, into Western and Central Siberia in communities associated with Seima-Turbino metallurgy: a suite of advanced bronze casting techniques that spread explosively across an enormous region of Northern Eurasia [~]4.0kya. However, the ancestry of the 16 Seima-Turbino-period individuals--the first reported from sites with this metallurgy--was otherwise extraordinarily diverse, with partial descent from Indo-Iranian-speaking pastoralists and multiple hunter-gatherer populations from widely separated regions of Eurasia. Our results provide support for theories suggesting that early Uralic speakers at the beginning of their westward dispersal where involved in the expansion of Seima-Turbino metallurgical traditions, and suggests that both cultural transmission and migration were important in the spread of Seima-Turbino material culture.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2020

Lions and brown bears colonized North America in multiple synchronous waves of dispersal across the Bering Land Bridge

The Bering Land Bridge connecting North America and Eurasia was periodically exposed and inundated by oscillating sea levels during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. This land connection allowed the intermittent dispersal of animals, including humans, between Western Beringia (far north-east Asia) and Eastern Beringia (north-west North America), changing the faunal community composition of both continents. The Pleistocene glacial cycles also had profound impacts on temperature, precipitation, and vegetation, impacting faunal community structure and demography. While these paleoenvironmental impacts have been studied in many large herbivores from Beringia (e.g., bison, mammoths, horses), the Pleistocene population dynamics of the diverse guild of carnivorans present in the region are less well understood, due to their lower abundances. In this study, we analyze mitochondrial genome data from ancient brown bears (Ursus arctos; n = 103) and lions (Panthera spp.; n = 39), two megafaunal carnivorans that dispersed into North America during the Pleistocene. Our results reveal striking synchronicity in the population dynamics of Beringian lions and brown bears, with multiple waves of dispersal across the Bering Land Bridge coinciding with glacial periods of low sea levels, as well as synchronous local extinctions in Eastern Beringia during Marine Isotope Stage 3. The evolutionary histories of these two taxa underscore the crucial biogeographic role of the Bering Land Bridge in the distribution, turnover, and maintenance of megafaunal populations in North America.

evolutionary biology↗