Classification of ancient mammal individuals using dental pulp MALDI-TOF MS peptide profiling.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The classification of ancient animal corpses at the species level remains a challenging task for forensic scientists and anthropologists. Severe damage and mixed, tiny pieces originating from several skeletons may render morphological classification virtually impossible. Standard approaches are based on sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear targets.

Methodology/principal findings

We present a method that can accurately classify mammalian species using dental pulp and mass spectrometry peptide profiling. Our work was organized into three successive steps. First, after extracting proteins from the dental pulp collected from 37 modern individuals representing 13 mammalian species, trypsin-digested peptides were used for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time

SUBMITTER: Tran TN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3045434 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature