Biomedical subjects
C de Muizon
Publications and source records attributed to C de Muizon.
The origin of the dog-like borhyaenoid marsupials of South America.
Dog-like marsupials (superfamily Borhyaenoidea) were the largest predacious mammals during the Tertiary period in South America. They are critical to our understanding of marsupial origin, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography because they have been related to various marsupial lineages of several continents: didelphoids (mainly New World, but also Europe, Asia and Africa), pediomyid, stagodontids (North America), dasyuroids (Australia) and deltatheroidans (predominantly Asian). These relationships, based mainly on dental morphology, have been discussed and rejected several times. Here we report the discovery of exceptionally well preserved skulls and skeletons, referrable to the didelphoid Andinodelphys, which shed new light on the phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic origin of dog-like marsupials. The skulls of Mayulestes (boryhyaenoid), Andinodelphys and Pucadelphys (didelphoids) from the early Palaeocene epoch of Bolivia are the oldest known for American marsupials. Comparison of their basicranial anatomy suggests that dog-like marsupials are closely related to an early didelphimorphian radiation in South America, rather than to Asiatic (deltatheroidan), North American (stagodontid), or Australian (dasyuroid) lineages.
Hemoglobin affinity and structure in high-altitude and sea-level carnivores from Peru.
We compared hemoglobin affinity (P50) and structure of high altitude (HA) carnivores with populations of the same species or genus living at sea level (SL). P50 was measured in cats, pumas and foxes. It differed in animals occupying both niches. SL: cat 29.3 torr, puma 36.3 torr, fox 26.2 torr; HA: cat 22.5 torr, puma 31.1 torr, fox 18.5 torr. Heme and globins were fractionated by HPLC. Puma and fox hemoglobins also showed structural differences. P50 is lower in genotypically HA-adapted species studied and can differentiate SL and HA populations of the same species.
A genetic response to high altitude hypoxia: high hemoglobin-oxygen affinity in chicken (Gallus gallus) from the Peruvian Andes.
A population of chicken (Gallus gallus) from the Peruvian Andes (4,000 m) carrying a high hemoglobin-oxygen affinity has been identified. This property remained stable after over 1 year residence at sea level and was transmitted to the descendants born at sea level. Chicken were introduced in South America during the Spanish conquest and therefore their adaptation time to high altitude is less than 500 years. This finding shows that a genotypic change in hemoglobin function can occur in an extremely short evolutionary time and leads to some reflections on the high altitude adaptation of the mammals that migrated to South America during the great Plio-Pleistocene interchange.