Proteome degradation in fossils: investigating the longevity of protein survival in ancient bone.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

We report the use of proteomics techniques to study how the fossil bone proteome changes in complexity over one million years.

Methods

We include the attempted use of a previously unreported methodology in proteome research, to remove the dominant bone collagens using bacterial collagenase as well as conventional shotgun proteomics methodology following digestion with the protease trypsin. In this study we expand upon a set of 19 bovine sub-fossil specimens ranging over one and a half million years that had previously been shown to possess collagen, using a total of 46 LTQ-Orbitrap liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analyses containing 462,186 precursor ion analyses.

Results

Although many types of proteins can typically be identified i

SUBMITTER: Wadsworth C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4282581 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature