Geochemical characterization of high molecular weight material isolated from late cretaceous fossils

Ostrom, Peggy H.; Macko, S. A.; Engel, Michael H.; Silfer, J.A.; Russell, Dale A.

doi:10.1016/0146-6380(90)90149-t

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Indeed, it has been established that preservation of collagen-like amino acid composition in organic matter extracted from bone or dentine means preservation of isotopic values, at least for Pleistocene mammals up to localities. Dinosaur and other reptile specimens from Late Cretaceous localities, including localities in the Judith River Formation, have yielded organic matter with some collagen characteristics (Ostrom et al 1990;Bocherens et al 1991b;Bocherens 1992) but the preservation of original isotopic values has still to be demonstrated. More powerful laboratory methods will probably allow extraction of organic matter suitable for isotopic analysis from some of these promising samples.…”

Section: Isotopic Biogeochemistry Of Organic Mattermentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Because of the abundance of dinosaur teeth in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, and because carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances in fossil bone organic matter from this area have been used to investigate the possibility of reconstructing the food webs of these animals (Bocherens et al 1991b;Ostrom et al 1990;Bocherens 1992), we have used dinosaur teeth to try to answer some questions about the effects of diagenetic process on chemical composition. Teeth, like bone, are mineralized tissues with a carbonate hydroxylapatite mineral fraction and an organic fraction but teeth comprise two different tissues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microstructural and geochemical investigations on Late Cretaceous archosaur teeth from Alberta, Canada

Bocherens¹,

Brinkman²,

Dauphin³

et al. 1994

Can. J. Earth Sci.

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Laboratoire de pe'trologie se'dimentaire et pale'ontologie, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Unite' de recherche associe'e no 723, bhtiment 504, Universite' Paris XI,Microstructural and chemical composition studies on fossil reptile teeth from Upper Cretaceous localities of Alberta, Canada, show that the quality of preservation exhibits great variability within a formation., as well as within a locality or even a single tooth. The chemical composition of fossil enamel is close to that of modern ena:mel, whereas the chemical compositions of fossil and modem dentine are very different. It seems that fossil enamel may have retained some paleodietary information in its chemical composition, whereas dentine, as well as bone, likely did not. I'aleodietary interpretations may thus be drawn from the chemical composition of some elements in tooth enamel, such as strontium, but more studies on recent reptiles are urged for comparison.Des Ctudes de microstructures et de compositions chimiques sur des dents de reptiles fossiles provenant de localitCs du Crttack supCrieur d'Alberta, Canada, montrent que la qualit6 de la prCservation prCsente une importante variabilitk au sein d'une formation, mais aussi dans une localit6 et meme ? i l'intkrieur d'une dent. La composition chimiique de l'tmail fossile est proche de celle de 1'Cmail actuel, tandis que les compositions chimiques de la dentine fossile et m~oderne sont bien differentes. I1 semble que 1'6mail fossile ait pu conserver certaines informations sur les palCo-rCgimes alimentaires dans sa composition chimique, alors que ce n'est probablement pas le cas pour la dentine et pour 1'0s. Des interprktations de pal&-rCgimes alimentaires peuvent &re Ctablies & partir de la composition chimique de certains ClCments tels que le strontium, mais des Ctudes complCmentaires sur des reptiles actuels sont nkcessaires pour Ctablir des comparaisons.

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Section: Isotopic Biogeochemistry Of Organic Mattermentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microstructural and geochemical investigations on Late Cretaceous archosaur teeth from Alberta, Canada

Bocherens¹,

Brinkman²,

Dauphin³

et al. 1994

Can. J. Earth Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Gurley et al (34) followed with a report of amino acids in the bony tissues of the Late Jurassic (Ϸ150 million years ago) sauropod dinosaur, Seismosaurus, and more recently the small and highly acidic bone protein, osteocalcin, has been recognized immunologically in extracts of dinosaurian bone (35). Stable isotope studies (36), including those done on the specimen used in the following study (37), indicate that at least some of these molecules are endogenous to the fossils, rather than arising from younger exogenous contaminants. These results suggest that significant protein remnants may exist in fossil bone.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heme compounds in dinosaur trabecular bone

Schweitzer

Marshall

Carron

et al. 1997

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Six independent lines of evidence point to the existence of heme-containing compounds and͞or hemoglobin breakdown products in extracts of trabecular tissues of the large theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex. These include signatures from nuclear magnetic resonance and electron spin resonance that indicate the presence of a paramagnetic compound consistent with heme. In addition, UV͞visible spectroscopy and high performance liquid chromatography data are consistent with the Soret absorbance characteristic of this molecule. Resonance Raman profiles are also consistent with a modified heme structure. Finally, when dinosaurian tissues were extracted for protein fragments and were used to immunize rats, the resulting antisera reacted positively with purified avian and mammalian hemoglobins. The most parsimonious explanation of this evidence is the presence of blood-derived hemoglobin compounds preserved in the dinosaurian tissues.

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“…Weiner et al 1976;Westbroek et al 1979;Armstrong et al 1983 and references therein;Lowenstein 1981Lowenstein , 1985Ostrom et al 1990;Collins et al 1991;Gurley et al 1991;Muyzer et al 1992;Stankiewicz et al 1997aStankiewicz et al ,b, 1998Schweitzer et al 1997aSchweitzer et al ,b, 1999aSchweitzer et al ,b, 2002Poinar et al 1998;Collins et al 1999). Immunological techniques have identified antigenic compounds in fossils of varying ages and from various source taxa (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular preservation in Late Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur eggshells

Schweitzer

Chiappe

Garrido³

et al. 2005

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Exceptionally preserved sauropod eggshells discovered in Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) deposits in Patagonia, Argentina, contain skeletal remains and soft tissues of embryonic Titanosaurid dinosaurs. To preserve these labile embryonic remains, the rate of mineral precipitation must have superseded postmortem degradative processes, resulting in virtually instantaneous mineralization of soft tissues. If so, mineralization may also have been rapid enough to retain fragments of original biomolecules in these specimens. To investigate preservation of biomolecular compounds in these well-preserved sauropod dinosaur eggshells, we applied multiple analytical techniques. Results demonstrate organic compounds and antigenic structures similar to those found in extant eggshells.

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Geochemical characterization of high molecular weight material isolated from late cretaceous fossils

Cited by 33 publications

References 18 publications

Microstructural and geochemical investigations on Late Cretaceous archosaur teeth from Alberta, Canada

Microstructural and geochemical investigations on Late Cretaceous archosaur teeth from Alberta, Canada

Heme compounds in dinosaur trabecular bone

Molecular preservation in Late Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur eggshells

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