Synthèse paléoenvironnementale et biochronologique de l'Igue du Gral (Lot). Entre nature et culture…

Paleogenomics of the Igue du Gral, or how megafauna populations crossed the last great glacial period.-The global changes that occurred at the end of the last glacial maximum have particularly disrupted biodiversity, including the European megafauna. The responses of individuals and populations to these major environmental changes are multiple, involving changes in their demography but also potentially adaptive and epigenetic responses. The advent of paleogenomics has provided access to a wealth of genetic and epigenetic information from the fossil record. Thanks to the recent development of next generation sequencing technologies but also to increasingly efficient methods of hybridization capture, it is yet possible to recover and sequence very small quantities of DNA extracted from subfossil specimens. The Igue du Gral, by the richness of its fossil record, the period it covers as well as its quality of preservation, represents an exceptional study site to undertake paleogenomic studies. The first DNA extractions from reindeer petrous bones confirm the quality of the fossils and are encouraging for the development of paleogenomic studies. These will allow to trace the dynamics of megafaunal populations during the previous great climatic transition.