Changes to polar bear DNA could help them adapt to global heating, scientists discover

Changes in polar bear DNA that could help the animals adapt to warmer climates have been detected by researchers in what is thought to be the first time a statistically significant link has been found between rising temperatures and changing DNA in a wild mammal species.

- Helena Horton Environment reporter

Climate breakdown is threatening the survival of polar bears. Two-thirds of them are expected to have disappeared by 2050 as their icy habitat melts at increasing speed.

Now scientists at the University of East Anglia have found that some genes related to heat stress, ageing and metabolism are behaving differently in polar bears living in southeast Greenland, suggesting they may be adjusting to warmer conditions.

The researchers analysed blood samples taken from polar bears in two regions of Greenland and compared “jumping genes”: small, mobile pieces of the genome that can influence how other genes work. Scientists looked at the genes in relation to temperatures in the two regions and at the associated changes in gene expression.