Overview
- University of East Anglia scientists linked local temperature records to RNA data and found widespread activation of transposons in southeastern Greenland polar bears.
- More than 1,500 transposon sequences were upregulated, with signals concentrated near genes tied to heat stress, ageing and metabolism.
- The analysis used blood RNA from 17 adult bears—12 from the colder northeast and 5 from the warmer, more variable southeast—drawing on a University of Washington dataset and Danish Meteorological Institute records.
- Findings were published in Mobile DNA and highlight genetic hotspots related to fat processing that could influence how bears cope when seal hunting falters.
- Researchers caution the results are preliminary, based on a small, single-timepoint sample and do not show heritable adaptation, prompting calls for broader genomic and longitudinal studies alongside emissions cuts.