Molecular paleontology

Abstract

Molecular paleontology, i.e., the recovery of DNA from ancient human, animal, and plant remains is an innovative research field that has received progressively more attention from the scientific community since the 1980s. In the last decade, the field was punctuated by claims which aroused great interest but eventually turned out to be fakes--the most famous being the sequence of dinosaur DNA later shown to be of human origin. At present, the discipline is characterized by some certainties and many doubts. We know, for example, that we have reasonable chances to recover authentic DNA from a mammoth carcass, while our chances are negligible (or nonexistent) in the case of a dynastic mummy from Egypt. On the other hand, though we are developing convincing models of DNA decay in bone, we are not yet able to predict whether a certain paleontological or archeological site will yield material amenable to DNA analysis. This article reviews some of the most important and promising investigations using molecular paleontology approaches, such as studies on the conservation of DNA in human bone, the quest for ancient DNA in permafrost-frozen fauna, the Tyrolean iceman, and the Neandertals.

Preserved Proteins from Extinct Bison latifrons Identified by Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Hydroxylysine Glycosides are a Common Feature of Ancient Collagen

“…As such, this analysis has unearthed common posttranslational modifications of collagen that may assist in its preservation over time. During the last decade, paleontology and taphonomy (the study of decaying organisms over time and the fossilization processes) have begun to overlap with the field of proteomics to shed new light on preserved organic matter in fossilized bones (1)(2)(3)(4). These bones represent a time capsule of ancient biomolecules, owing to their natural resistance to post mortem decay arising from a unique combination of mechanical, structural, and chemical properties (4 -7).…”

“…One of the first direct measurements was by amino acid analysis, which showed that the compositional profile of ancient samples was consistent with collagens in modern bone samples (37)(38)(39). Preservation of organic biomolecules, either from bone, dentin, antlers, or ivory, has been investigated by radiolabeled 14 C fossil dating (40) to provide an avenue of delineating evolutionary divergence from extant species (3,41,42). It is also important to note that these parameters primarily depend on ancient bone collagen as the levels remain largely unchanged (a high percentage of collagen is retained, as gleaned by laboratory experiments on bone taphonomy (6)).…”

Reconstructing large regions of an ancestral mammalian genome in silico

“…The first is lack of information; there is not enough intact DNA in the modern remains of species that have been extinct for many millions of years to infer ancestral genome sequences (Austin et al 1997;Marota and Rollo 2002). The second is lack of the necessary biotechnology to synthesize large genomic regions from many small pieces.…”

Molecular preservation in Late Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur eggshells

“…Because molecular preservation has been correlated with morphological and microstructural preservation (e.g. Hagelberg & Clegg 1991;Marota & Rollo 2002), optimizing the search for endogenous organic components within fossil specimens should involve careful selection of fossil specimens for Figure 6. Representative ELISA showing reactivity of preimmune (white, dark grey bars) and post-immunization (light grey, black) test sera against multiple antigens.…”