Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Ancient protein studies have demonstrated their utility for looking at a wide range of evolutionary and historical questions. The majority of palaeoproteomics studies to date have been restricted to high latitudes with relatively temperate environments. A better understanding of protein preservation at lower latitudes is critical for disentangling the mechanisms involved in the deep-time survival of ancient proteins, and for broadening the geographical applicability of palaeoproteomics. In this study, we aim to assess the level of collagen preservation in the Australian fossil record. Collagen preservation was systematically examined using a combination of thermal age estimates, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, and protein deamidation calculations. We reveal unexpected subtropical survival of collagen in bones more than 50 thousand years old, showing that protein preservation can exceed chemical predictions of collagen survival in bone. These findings challenge preconceptions concerning the suitability of palaeoproteomics in subtropical Pleistocene environments. We explore potential causes of this unexpected result to identify the underlying mechanisms leading to this exceptional preservation. This study serves as a starting point for the analysis of ancient proteins in other (sub)tropical contexts, and at deeper timescales.
Institutions: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, The University of Queensland, The University of Western Australia, Queensland Museum, Monash University, Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Bavarian Natural History Collections, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Western Australian Museum, Museums Victoria, Griffith University, University of Copenhagen, University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,090
Awards: Understanding faunal responses to climate change and environmental perturbations through the Quaternary in north-eastern Australia, Beasts to Craft: BioCodicology as a new approach to the study of parchment manuscripts, 50,000 years of human subsistence behaviour in northern Australia, Developing reliable chronologies for extinct Australian Pleistocene megafauna from museum fossil collections
OpenAlex ID: W4388997809