Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities
Fossils were thought to lack original organic molecules, but chemical analyses show that some can survive. Dinosaur bone has been proposed to preserve collagen, osteocytes, and blood vessels. However, proteins and labile lipids are diagenetically unstable, and bone is a porous open system, allowing...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2019-06-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/46205 |
| _version_ | 1811200268779388928 |
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| author | Evan T Saitta Renxing Liang Maggie CY Lau Caleb M Brown Nicholas R Longrich Thomas G Kaye Ben J Novak Steven L Salzberg Mark A Norell Geoffrey D Abbott Marc R Dickinson Jakob Vinther Ian D Bull Richard A Brooker Peter Martin Paul Donohoe Timothy DJ Knowles Kirsty EH Penkman Tullis Onstott |
| author_facet | Evan T Saitta Renxing Liang Maggie CY Lau Caleb M Brown Nicholas R Longrich Thomas G Kaye Ben J Novak Steven L Salzberg Mark A Norell Geoffrey D Abbott Marc R Dickinson Jakob Vinther Ian D Bull Richard A Brooker Peter Martin Paul Donohoe Timothy DJ Knowles Kirsty EH Penkman Tullis Onstott |
| author_sort | Evan T Saitta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fossils were thought to lack original organic molecules, but chemical analyses show that some can survive. Dinosaur bone has been proposed to preserve collagen, osteocytes, and blood vessels. However, proteins and labile lipids are diagenetically unstable, and bone is a porous open system, allowing microbial/molecular flux. These ‘soft tissues’ have been reinterpreted as biofilms. Organic preservation versus contamination of dinosaur bone was examined by freshly excavating, with aseptic protocols, fossils and sedimentary matrix, and chemically/biologically analyzing them. Fossil ‘soft tissues’ differed from collagen chemically and structurally; while degradation would be expected, the patterns observed did not support this. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed that dinosaur bone hosted an abundant microbial community different from lesser abundant communities of surrounding sediment. Subsurface dinosaur bone is a relatively fertile habitat, attracting microbes that likely utilize inorganic nutrients and complicate identification of original organic material. There exists potential post-burial taphonomic roles for subsurface microorganisms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:01:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6f562829c9b4583a4e15042fe0cad2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:01:57Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6f562829c9b4583a4e15042fe0cad2d2022-12-22T03:52:40ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2019-06-01810.7554/eLife.46205Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communitiesEvan T Saitta0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9306-9060Renxing Liang1Maggie CY Lau2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2812-9749Caleb M Brown3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6463-8677Nicholas R Longrich4Thomas G Kaye5Ben J Novak6Steven L Salzberg7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8859-7432Mark A Norell8Geoffrey D Abbott9Marc R Dickinson10Jakob Vinther11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3584-9616Ian D Bull12Richard A Brooker13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4931-9912Peter Martin14Paul Donohoe15Timothy DJ Knowles16Kirsty EH Penkman17https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6226-9799Tullis Onstott18Integrative Research Center, Section of Earth Sciences, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, United StatesDepartment of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesDepartment of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, United States; Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, ChinaRoyal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Drumheller, CanadaDepartment of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom; Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, United KingdomFoundation for Scientific Advancement, Sierra Vista, United StatesRevive and Restore, San Francisco, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Computational Biology, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States; Department of Computer Science, Center for Computational Biology, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States; Department of Biostatistics, Center for Computational Biology, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United StatesDivision of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United StatesSchool of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United KingdomDepartment of Chemistry, University of York, York, United KingdomSchool of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomSchool of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomSchool of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomSchool of Physics, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomSchool of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United KingdomSchool of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; School of Arts, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomDepartment of Chemistry, University of York, York, United KingdomDepartment of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, United StatesFossils were thought to lack original organic molecules, but chemical analyses show that some can survive. Dinosaur bone has been proposed to preserve collagen, osteocytes, and blood vessels. However, proteins and labile lipids are diagenetically unstable, and bone is a porous open system, allowing microbial/molecular flux. These ‘soft tissues’ have been reinterpreted as biofilms. Organic preservation versus contamination of dinosaur bone was examined by freshly excavating, with aseptic protocols, fossils and sedimentary matrix, and chemically/biologically analyzing them. Fossil ‘soft tissues’ differed from collagen chemically and structurally; while degradation would be expected, the patterns observed did not support this. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed that dinosaur bone hosted an abundant microbial community different from lesser abundant communities of surrounding sediment. Subsurface dinosaur bone is a relatively fertile habitat, attracting microbes that likely utilize inorganic nutrients and complicate identification of original organic material. There exists potential post-burial taphonomic roles for subsurface microorganisms.https://elifesciences.org/articles/46205fossilsmicrobiomeproteins |
| spellingShingle | Evan T Saitta Renxing Liang Maggie CY Lau Caleb M Brown Nicholas R Longrich Thomas G Kaye Ben J Novak Steven L Salzberg Mark A Norell Geoffrey D Abbott Marc R Dickinson Jakob Vinther Ian D Bull Richard A Brooker Peter Martin Paul Donohoe Timothy DJ Knowles Kirsty EH Penkman Tullis Onstott Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities eLife fossils microbiome proteins |
| title | Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| title_full | Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| title_fullStr | Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| title_short | Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| title_sort | cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities |
| topic | fossils microbiome proteins |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/46205 |
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