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Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships

2019; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 3; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z

2397-334X

Samantha Presslee, Graham J. Slater, François Pujos, Analía M. Forasiepi, Román Fischer, Kelly R. Molloy, Meaghan Mackie, Jesper V. Olsen, Alejandro Kramarz, Matías L. Taglioretti, Fernando Scaglia, Maximiliano J. Lezcano, José Luis Lanata, John Southon, Robert S. Feranec, Jonathan I. Bloch, Adam Hajduk, Fabiana Martin, Rodolfo Salas‐Gismondi, Marcelo Reguero, Christian de Muizon, Alex D. Greenwood, Brian T. Chait, Kirsty Penkman, Matthew J. Collins, R. D. E. MacPhee,

Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora, a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the western hemisphere during the Cenozoic, including both continents and the West Indies. Ancient DNA evidence has played only a minor role in folivoran systematics, as most sloths lived in places not conducive to genomic preservation. Here we utilize collagen sequence information, both separately and in combination with published mitochondrial DNA evidence, to assess the relationships of tree sloths and their extinct relatives. Results from phylogenetic analysis of these datasets differ substantially from morphology-based concepts: Choloepus groups with Mylodontidae, not Megalonychidae; Bradypus and Megalonyx pair together as megatherioids, while monophyletic Antillean sloths may be sister to all other folivorans. Divergence estimates are consistent with fossil evidence for mid-Cenozoic presence of sloths in the West Indies and an early Miocene radiation in South America. Palaeoproteomics offers an opportunity to resolve molecular phylogenies especially in contexts where ancient DNA does not preserve. Here collagen sequences resolve sloth phylogenies differently from morphology-based estimates, illuminating the utility of proteomics in systematics.