Using Palaeogenomes to Calibrate the Evolutionary Histories of Ice Age Mammals

Genomic data is increasingly used to investigate the evolutionary histories of wild organisms, for example through inference of past changes in demography as well as divergence times among populations. However, the precision of such inferences depend on accurate and taxon-specific estimates of the genome-wide mutation rate. One way to address this is to analyze genomes sampled at different points in time. This approach offers a unique opportunity to directly estimate changes in genetic diversity through time, and thus to calibrate genome-wide mutation rates. The aim of this presentation is to provide empirical examples of palaeogenomic data sets that have been used to examine mammalian evolutionary histories, based on estimates of mutation rates calibrated using time-stamped Pleistocene and Holocene genomes.