Scientists have detected modifications in polar bear DNA that might assist the mammals acclimatize to warmer conditions. This study is believed to be the primary instance where a statistically significant connection has been found between escalating temperatures and shifting DNA in a wild animal species.
Global warming is threatening the existence of polar bears. Forecasts indicate that a significant majority of them could vanish by 2050 as their icy habitat melts and the weather becomes hotter.
“DNA is the guidebook inside every biological unit, directing how an life form evolves and matures,” stated the lead researcher, Dr. Alice Godden. “By examining these bears’ expressed genes to area environmental information, we found that increasing heat appear to be driving a substantial rise in the behavior of transposable elements within the specific area bears’ DNA.”
The team studied tissue samples taken from Arctic bears in separate zones of Greenland and evaluated “jumping genes”: small, roving pieces of the genetic code that can influence how other genes work. The study examined these genetic markers in relation to temperatures and the related variations in DNA function.
With environmental conditions and diets evolve due to transformations in habitat and food supply forced by global heating, the DNA of the bears seem to be evolving. The community of polar bears in the most temperate part of the area showed increased genetic shifts than the populations to the north.
“This result is significant because it shows, for the first time, that a unique group of Arctic bears in the hottest part of Greenland are utilizing ‘mobile genetic elements’ to swiftly alter their own DNA, which could be a critical survival mechanism against disappearing sea ice,” noted Godden.
Conditions in the colder region are less variable and more stable, while in the south-east there is a more temperate and less icy environment, with significant climate variability.
DNA sequences in animals evolve over time, but this mechanism can be accelerated by environmental stress such as a rapidly heating planet.
The study noted some notable DNA alterations, such as in areas connected to lipid metabolism, that might assist polar bears cope when food is scarce. Bears in temperate zones had a greater proportion of fibrous, vegetarian diets compared with the fatty, seal-based nutrition of northern bears, and the DNA of south-eastern bears appeared to be adapting to this new reality.
Godden explained further: “Scientists found several active DNA areas where these jumping genes were very dynamic, with some located in the protein-coding regions of the DNA, implying that the animals are subject to rapid, significant genetic changes as they respond to their vanishing Arctic home.”
The subsequent phase will be to examine additional subspecies, of which there are twenty around the world, to determine if comparable changes are taking place to their DNA.
This study may help conserve the animals from dying out. However, the experts noted that it was vital to slow global warming from increasing by lowering the use of fossil fuels.
“We cannot be complacent, this offers some optimism but is not a sign that polar bears are at any less threat of disappearance. It is imperative to be undertaking every action we can to lower greenhouse gas output and mitigate climate change,” concluded Godden.
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