DNA was extracted from the remains of 35 ground sloths from various parts of North and South America. Two specimens of Mylodon darwinii, a species that went extinct at the end of the last glaciation, yielded amplifiable DNA. However, of the total DNA extracted, only approximately 1/1000 originated from the sloth, whereas a substantial part of the remainder was of bacterial and fungal origin. In spite of this, > 1100 bp of sloth mitochondrial rDNA sequences could be reconstructed from short amplification products. Phylogenetic analyses using homologous sequences from all extant edentate groups suggest that Mylodon darwinii was more closely related to the two-toed than the three-toed sloths and, thus, that an arboreal life-style has evolved at least twice among sloths. The divergence of Mylodon and the two-toed sloth furthermore allows a date for the radiation of armadillos, anteaters, and sloths to be estimated. This result shows that the edentates differ from other mammalian orders in that they contain lineages that diverged before the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC40202 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.93.1.181 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Isotope data from amino acids indicate Darwin's ground sloth was not an herbivore.
Sci Rep
October 2021
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA.
Fossil sloths are regarded as obligate herbivores for reasons including peculiarities of their craniodental morphology and that all living sloths feed exclusively on plants. We challenge this view based on isotopic analyses of nitrogen of specific amino acids, which show that Darwin's ground sloth Mylodon darwinii was an opportunistic omnivore. This direct evidence of omnivory in an ancient sloth requires reevaluation of the ecological structure of South American Cenozoic mammalian communities, as sloths represented a major component of these ecosystems across the past 34 Myr.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResolving the phylogenetic position of Darwin's extinct ground sloth () using mitogenomic and nuclear exon data.
Proc Biol Sci
May 2018
McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
is the extinct giant ground sloth named after Charles Darwin, who first collected its remains in South America. We have successfully obtained a high-quality mitochondrial genome at 99-fold coverage using an Illumina shotgun sequencing of a 12 880-year-old bone fragment from Mylodon Cave in Chile. Low level of DNA damage showed that this sample was exceptionally well preserved for an ancient subfossil, probably the result of the dry and cold conditions prevailing within the cave.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomic evidence for rod monochromacy in sloths and armadillos suggests early subterranean history for Xenarthra.
Proc Biol Sci
February 2015
Department of Biology, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
Rod monochromacy is a rare condition in vertebrates characterized by the absence of cone photoreceptor cells. The resulting phenotype is colourblindness and low acuity vision in dim-light and blindness in bright-light conditions. Early reports of xenarthrans (armadillos, sloths and anteaters) suggest that they are rod monochromats, but this has not been tested with genomic data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCase study: ancient sloth DNA recovered from hairs preserved in paleofeces.
Methods Mol Biol
May 2012
McMaster Ancient DNA Center, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8S 4L9.
Ancient hair, which has proved to be an excellent source of well-preserved ancient DNA, is often preserved in paleofeces. Here, we separate and wash hair shafts preserved in a paleofecal specimen believed to be from a Darwin's ground sloth, Mylodon darwinii. After extracting DNA from the recovered and cleaned hair using a protocol optimized for DNA extraction from keratinous substrates, we amplify 12S and 16S rDNA sequences from the DNA extract.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMylodon darwinii DNA sequences from ancient fecal hair shafts.
Ann Anat
January 2012
McMaster Ancient DNA Center, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Preserved hair has been increasingly used as an ancient DNA source in high throughput sequencing endeavors, and it may actually offer several advantages compared to more traditional ancient DNA substrates like bone. However, cold environments have yielded the most informative ancient hair specimens, while its preservation, and thus utility, in temperate regions is not well documented. Coprolites could represent a previously underutilized preservation substrate for hairs, which, if present therein, represent macroscopic packages of specific cells that are relatively simple to separate, clean and process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!