Scientists retrieve 80-million-year-old dinosaur protein in ‘milestone’ paper
From Science Magazine
It’s not quite Jurassic Park: No one has revived long-extinct dinosaurs. But two new studies suggest that it is possible to isolate protein fragments from dinosaurs much further back in time than ever thought possible. One study, led by Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University in Raleigh who has chased dinosaur proteins for decades, confirms her highly controversial claim to have recovered 80-million-year-old dinosaur collagen. The other paper suggests that protein may even have survived in a 195-million-year-old dino fossil.http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/scientists-retrieve-80-million-year-old-dinosaur-protein-milestone-paperThe Schweitzer paper is a “milestone,” says ancient protein expert Enrico Cappellini of the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark, who was skeptical of some of Schweitzer’s earlier work. “I’m fully convinced beyond a reasonable doubt the evidence is authentic.” He calls the second study “a long shot that is suggestive.” But together, Cappellini and others argue, the papers have the potential to transform dinosaur paleontology into a molecular science, much as analyzing ancient DNA has revolutionized the study of human evolution.
Back in 2007 and 2009, Schweitzer reported in Science that she and her colleagues had isolated intact protein fragments from 65-million- and 80-million-year-old dinosaur fossils. But the claims were met with howls of skepticism from biochemists and paleontologists who saw no way that fragile organic molecules could survive for tens of millions of years, and wondered whether her samples were contaminated with modern proteins.
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