Exploratory Transcriptomic Analysis of Choloepus didactylus
Sloths, a group of xenarthran mammals comprised of 6 distinct species, have been the focus of much physiological animal research due to their extremely slow metabolisms, deliberate movements, and their status as a species relatively unchanged for over 26 million years. However, despite all the effort aimed at understanding these unique characteristics, the sloth genome remains largely unexplored. Due to the link between genetics and observed traits, such an investigation could potentially lead to insights regarding the genetic basis of sloth behaviors and characteristics. In this exploratory investigation, we performed genomic and transcriptomic analysis of a female Choloepus didactylus (Linnaeus's Two-Toed Sloth). Transcriptome analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) showed gene expression levels in two-toed sloths, which are conjectured to be responsible for many of the unique features of two-toed sloths and opens a path towards future exploratory research into specific gene and protein functions tied to the unique characteristics of the sloth species. Overall design: To perform transcriptome analysis on the two-toed sloth, we extracted peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from sloth blood samples, fractionaed them by density gradient configuration, isolated the total RNA, prepared libraries, then performed sequencing.