Species identification of ivory and bone museum objects using minimally invasive proteomics

ABSTRACT: Ivory is a highly prized material in many cultures since it can be carved into intricated designs and have a highly polished surface. Due to its popularity, the animals from which ivory can be sourced have started to come under threat. Identification of the ivory species is not only important for compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), it can also provide important information about the context in which the work was created. In this work, we have developed a minimally invasive workflow to remove minimal amounts of material from precious objects, and, using high-resolution mass spectrometry-based proteomics, identified the taxonomy of several ivory and bone objects from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art dating from as early as 4000 B.C. We built an inhouse proteomic databases of underrepresented species based on exemplars obtained from the Mammology American Museum of Natural History collection and proposed alternative data analysis workflows for rare samples containing sparse and inconsistently preserved organic material. This is a first application demonstrating extensive and accurate ivory species identification using proteomics to unlock sequence uncertainties, e.g. Leu/Ile-discrimination.

INSTRUMENT(S): Orbitrap Eclipse

ORGANISM(S): Loxodonta Cyclotis Bos Taurus (bovine) Cervus Elaphus Hippelaphus Loxodonta Africana (african Elephant) Hippopotamus Amphibius (hippopotamus) Elephas Maximus Indicus Physeter Catodon

TISSUE(S): Dentin, Extracellular Matrix, Bone

SUBMITTER: Catherine Gilbert  

LAB HEAD: Caroline Tokarski

PROVIDER: PXD042536 | Pride | 2024-02-05

REPOSITORIES: Pride