A molecular analysis of ground sloth diet through the last glaciation

DNA was extracted from five coprolites, excavated in Gypsum Cave, Nevada and radiocarbon dated to approximately 11 000, 20 000 and 28 500 years BP. All coprolites contained mitochondrial DNA sequences identical to a DNA sequence determined from a bone of the extinct ground sloth Nothrotheriops shastensis. A 157-bp fragment of the chloroplast gene for the large subunit of the ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL) was amplified from the boluses …