Eighteen million years of diverse enamel proteomes from the East African Rift.

ABSTRACT: Research into the palaeobiology of extinct taxa through ancient DNA and proteomics has been mostly limited to Plio-Pleistocene fossils^1-9, due to molecular breakdown over time, which is exacerbated in tropical settings^1-3. Here we sample small proteomes from the interior enamel of fossils at palaeontological sites from the Pleistocene to the Oligocene in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, which has produced a rich record of Cenozoic mammalian evolution¹⁰. Through a mass-spectrometry-based proteomic workflow, and using criteria to locate diagenetiforms derived from enamel, we recover fragments of enamelin, ameloblastin, matrix metalloprotease-20 and dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1 from an Early Miocene rhinocerotid and several proboscideans collected from the s

SUBMITTER: Green DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12267061 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature