Characterization of Proteomes Extracted through Collagen-based Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Dating Methods.

Isotope analyses on "collagen" extracted from ancient bone have been routinely used for dietary and chronological inferences worldwide for decades. These methods involve the decalcification of biomineralized tissues with acid, often followed by processes to remove exogenous contaminants, and then gelatinization of what is often described as the "collagen" fraction. However, little is known about the relative content of collagen to the many other noncollagenous proteins (NCPs) potentially present.

Comparing ancient DNA survival and proteome content in 69 archaeological cattle tooth and bone samples from multiple European sites.

Unlabelled: Ancient DNA (aDNA) is the most informative biomolecule extracted from skeletal remains at archaeological sites, but its survival is unpredictable and its extraction and analysis is time consuming, expensive and often fails. Several proposed methods for better understanding aDNA survival are based upon the characterisation of some aspect of protein survival, but these are typically non-specific; proteomic analyses may offer an attractive method for understanding preservation processes. In this study, in-depth proteomic (LC-Orbitrap-MS/MS) analyses were carried out on 69 archaeological bovine bone and dentine samples from multiple European archaeological sites and compared with mitochondrial aDNA and amino acid racemisation (AAR) data.

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

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.

Absence of ancient DNA in sub-fossil insect inclusions preserved in 'Anthropocene' Colombian copal.

Insects preserved in copal, the sub-fossilized resin precursor of amber, have potential value in molecular ecological studies of recently-extinct species and of extant species that have never been collected as living specimens. The objective of the work reported in this paper was therefore to determine if ancient DNA is present in insects preserved in copal. We prepared DNA libraries from two stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini: Trigonisca ameliae) preserved in 'Anthropocene' Colombian copal, dated to 'post-Bomb' and 10,612±62 cal yr BP, respectively, and obtained sequence reads using the GS Junior 454 System.