Westbury, Michael V.Barnett, RossSandoval Velasco, MarcelaGower, GrahamGarrett Vieira, FilipeManuel Montero, Marc de, 1991-Hansen, Anders J.Yamaguchi, NobuyukiWerdelin, LarsMarquès i Bonet, Tomàs, 1975-Gilbert, M ThomasLorenzen, Eline D.2021-08-032021-08-032021Westbury MV, Barnett R, Sandoval-Velasco M, Gower G, Garrett Vieira F, de Manuel M, Hansen AJ, Yamaguchi N, Werdelin L, Marquès Bonet T, Gilbert MTP, Lorenzen ED. A genomic exploration of the early evolution of extant cats and their sabre-toothed relatives. Open Research Europe. 2021;1:25. DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.13104.22732-5121http://hdl.handle.net/10230/48305Background: The evolutionary relationships of Felidae during their Early–Middle Miocene radiation is contentious. Although the early common ancestors have been subsumed under the grade-group Pseudaelurus, this group is thought to be paraphyletic, including the early ancestors of both modern cats and extinct sabretooths. Methods: Here, we sequenced a draft nuclear genome of Smilodon populator, dated to 13,182 ± 90 cal BP, making this the oldest palaeogenome from South America to date, a region known to be problematic for ancient DNA preservation. We analysed this genome, together with genomes from other extinct and extant cats to investigate their phylogenetic relationships. Results: We confirm a deep divergence (~20.65 Ma) within sabre-toothed cats. Through the analysis of both simulated and empirical data, we show a lack of gene flow between Smilodon and contemporary Felidae. Conclusions: Given that some species traditionally assigned to Pseudaelurus originated in the Early Miocene ~20 Ma, this indicates that some species of Pseudaelurus may be younger than the lineages they purportedly gave rise to, further supporting the hypothesis that Pseudaelurus was paraphyletic.application/pdfeng© 2021 Westbury MV et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.13104.2SmilodonAncient DNAGenomicsGene flowFelidaePalaeogenomePhylogenyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess