"Game-changing" research could solve the mysteries of evolution

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A revolution began after scientists had extracted the genetic information from a rhino tooth aged 1.7 million years – the largest and oldest genetic data ever recorded.

Researchers have identified an almost complete set of proteins, a proteome, in rhinoceros tooth enamel and the genetic information discovered is one million years older than the oldest sequenced DNA in the world. 39, a horse 700,000 years old.

The findings of scientists from the University of Copenhagen and St John's College at the University of Cambridge are published today (September 11) in Nature. They are a breakthrough in the field of ancient biomolecular studies and could solve some of the greatest mysteries of animal and human biology by enabling scientists to accurately reconstruct the evolution of more backwards than ever before.

Professor Enrico Cappellini, specialist in paleoproteomics at the Globe Institute of the University of Copenhagen, and first author of the article, said: "For 20 years, the ancient DNA is used to address issues relating to the evolution of extinct species, adaptation and human migration, but for the first time we have retrieved old genetic information, which allows us to reconstruct molecular evolution well beyond the usual time of preservation of DNA.

"This new analysis of old tooth enamel proteins will open an exciting new chapter in the study of molecular evolution."

DNA data that genetically track human evolution only cover the last 400,000 years. But the lineages that led to the modern man and the chimpanzee – the genetically closest living species to the nearest human – have split in six or seven million years, which means that scientists currently do not have any genetic information for more than 90% of the evolutionary path that led to modern humans.

Scientists also do not know what are the genetic links between us and extinct species such as Homo erectus, the oldest known human species to have modern body proportions, because everything that is known in the world is not known. Today's time is almost exclusively based on anatomical information. , no genetic information.

Researchers have now used the ancient protein sequencing – based on a revolutionary technology called mass spectrometry – to extract genetic information from the tooth of a Stephanorhinus 1.77 million years old – an extinct rhinoceros that lived in Eurasia during the Pleistocene. The researchers took samples of tooth enamel from the ancient fossil found in Dmanisi, Georgia, and used mass spectrometry to sequence the old protein and extract previously unseen genetic information. with the help of DNA tests.

Tooth enamel is the hardest material found in mammals. In this study, researchers found that the set of proteins it contains lasts longer than DNA and is more genetically informative than collagen, the only other protein extracted to date from fossils dating back more than million years old.

Professor Jesper V. Olsen, head of the mass spectrometry group of the Quantitative Proteomics Group of the Protein Research Center of the Novo Nordisk Foundation of the University of Copenhagen, and co-correspondent author, said: " Protein sequencing based on mass spectrometry will allow us to retrieve reliable and rich genetic information on mammalian fossils that are millions of years old rather than thousands of years old. the only technology that can provide the robustness and precision needed to sequence tiny amounts of protein of this age. "

Professor Cappellini added, "Dental enamel is extremely abundant and incredibly durable, which is why a large part of the fossil record is of teeth.

"We have been able to find a way to retrieve more informative and older genetic information than any other source before – they come from a plentiful source in the fossil record, so the potential for application of this approach is considerable. "

The lead author of the paper, Professor Eske Willerslev, who holds positions at St John's College of the University of Cambridge and is Director of the Lundbeck Center for GeoGenetics Center of the Globe Institute of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, said: "This research is a game changer that opens up many possibilities for future evolutionary studies on humans and mammals.It will revolutionize evolutionary investigation methods based on molecular markers and will open an entirely new field of old, ancient technologies., biomolecular studies. "

This reorganization of the evolutionary lineage of a single species may appear to be a slight adjustment, but the identification of changes that occurred in many extinct mammals and humans could result in considerable changes in our understanding of how the world is changing. has evolved.

The team of scientists is already implementing the results of its current research. This discovery could allow scientists around the world to collect genetic data from ancient fossils and to paint a larger and more accurate picture of the evolution of hundreds of species, including our own.