Sydney, Feb 1 (IANS) Ancient bison bones discovered at a Canadian goldmine are helping unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental channge, a study reveals.

The 30,000-year-old bones were unearthed by University of Adelaide researchers, which helped them analyse special genetic modifications that turn genes on and off without altering the DNA sequence itself.

These ‘epigenetic’ changes can occur rapidly between generations, even without going through standard evolutionary processes. Such epigenetic modifications (the effect of environment on genes) could explain how animal species are able to respond to rapid climate change.

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute researchers, collaborating with University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have shown that it is possible to accurately measure epigenetic modifications in extinct animals and populations, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

They measured epigenetic modifications in 30,000-year-old permafrost bones from the Yukon region in Canada, and compared them to those in modern-day cattle, and a 30-year-old mummified cow from New Zealand, a university statement said.

Alan Cooper, director of ACAD, who led the project said: “The climate record shows that very rapid change has been a persistent feature of the recent past, and organisms would need to adapt to these changes in their environment equally quickly.”

“This is the first step towards testing the idea that epigenetics has driven evolution in natural populations,” said Catherine Suter, Epigenetics specialist and co-investigator from the Victor Chang.