Ancient protein dating back to beyond 20 million years ago have been extracted and sequential starting from the fossilized tooth of a rhinoceros lived in Lower miocene And found in Canada: this unprecedented result opens up a new frontier for paleoproteomy, promising to reveal secrets of evolution dating back to remote times, going far beyond the scope of ancient DNA. The study is published in Nature by an international research group directed by the biochemical Enrico Cappellini of the University of Copenhagen.
The Italian participation is strong, with the Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Tor Vergata and the Museum of Geology and Paleontology of the University of Florence, which contributed by providing and analyzing a rhino deiver 400,000 years agocoming from the Fontana Ranuccio website (Frosinone). The finding worked as an intermediate reference among the most recent samples (medieval specimens) and the much older one analyzed in the study.
Research marks one carried out for the paleoproteomicsor it study of ancient proteins. Although some have already been found in fossils of the Middle-Upper Miocene (about the last 10 million years), the obtaining of sufficiently detailed sequences for reconstructions robust of the evolutionary relationships It was previously limited to champions no longer old than 4 million years. This new study expand significantly such temporal windowdemonstrating the extraordinary potential of the proteins to persist on vast geological temporal stairs in the right conditions.
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