The skull of the 75,000 year old Neanderthal from the Shanidar cave in Iraq.
Posted on 03/15/2005 7:20:27 AM PST by PatrickHenry
An international team, led by researchers at the Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, have extracted and sequenced protein from a Neanderthal from Shanidar Cave, Iraq dating to approximately 75,000 years old. It is rare to recover protein of this age, and remarkable to be able to determine the constituent amino acid sequence. This is the oldest fossil protein ever sequenced. Protein sequences may be used in a similar way to DNA, to provide information on the genetic relationships between extinct and living species. As ancient DNA rarely survives, this new method opens up the possibility of determining these relationships in much older fossils which no longer contain DNA (PNAS Online Early Edition, March 8, 2005).
The research, published in PNAS, presents the sequence for the bone protein osteocalcin from a Neanderthal from Shanidar Cave, Iraq, as well as osteocalcin sequences from living primates (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans). The team found that the Neanderthal sequence was the same as modern humans. In addition, the team found a marked difference in the sequences of Neanderthals, human, chimpanzee and orangutan from that of gorillas, and most other mammals. This sequence difference is at position nine, where the crystalline amino acid hydroxyproline is replaced by proline (an amino acid that is found in many proteins). The authors suggest that this is a dietary response, as the formation of hydroxyproline requires vitamin C, which is ample in the diets of herbivores like gorillas, but may be absent from the diets of the omnivorous primates such as humans and Neanderthals, orangutans and chimpanzees. Therefore, the ability to form proteins without the presence of vitamin C may have been an advantage to these primates if this nutrient was missing from the diets regularly, or from time to time.
The skull of the 75,000 year old Neanderthal from the Shanidar cave in Iraq.
This research opens up the exciting possibility of extracting and sequencing protein from other fossils, including earlier humans, as a means of determining the relationships between extinct and living species, and to better understand the phylogenetic relationships.
bttt for later read. :-)
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Interesting.
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So, let me see if I understand the thrust here: Germany will now clone a vast army of prehistoric Muslims to conquer the world? |
"If" true, then once again we see "devolution" in progress. An ancient ability was to form proteins was loss.
And once again, this is going in the OPPOSITE direction of evolution.
Here is the interesting PNAS article
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0500450102v1
We report here protein sequences of fossil hominids, from two Neanderthals dating to 75,000 years old from Shanidar Cave in Iraq. These sequences, the oldest reported fossil primate protein sequences, are of bone osteocalcin, which was extracted and sequenced by using MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Through a combination of direct sequencing and peptide mass mapping, we determined that Neanderthals have an osteocalcin amino acid sequence that is identical to that of modern humans.
We also report complete osteocalcin sequences for chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and a partial sequence for orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), all of which are previously unreported. We found that the osteocalcin sequences of Neanderthals, modern human, chimpanzee, and orangutan are unusual among mammals in that the ninth amino acid is proline (Pro-9), whereas most species have hydroxyproline (Hyp-9). Posttranslational hydroxylation of Pro-9 in osteocalcin by prolyl-4-hydroxylase requires adequate concentrations of vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid), molecular O2, Fe2+, and 2-oxoglutarate, and also depends on enzyme recognition of the target proline substrate consensus sequence Leu-Gly-Ala-Pro-9-Ala-Pro-Tyr occurring in most mammals. In five species with Pro-9-Val-10, hydroxylation is blocked, whereas in gorilla there is a mixture of Pro-9 and Hyp-9. We suggest that the absence of hydroxylation of Pro-9 in Pan, Pongo, and Homo may reflect response to a selective pressure related to a decline in vitamin C in the diet during omnivorous dietary adaptation, either independently or through the common ancestor of these species.
Thanks for the ping!
Uh... HELLO! This was a process needed when vitamin C wasn't available. Vitamin C is now largely available. Thus, it's an unecessary process.
Evolution wins another one. And ID takes it in the shorts *again*.
Strangely enough, Chicago voting records indicate that the 75,000 year old Neanderthal voted for Kerry in 2004 and Gore in 2000...
Info on Osteocalcin http://www.hprd.org/protein/00205
but they have not deposited the sequences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi of the other species yet
> Interestingly, the general concensus (prior to Darwin's theory) as to the age of the earth was around 6,000 years ...
Not in the scientific community. Well before Darwin, geologists were beginning to recognize that the Earth was a *lot* older than they had been told. See: "The Map That Changed The World" for a nicely readable history of William Smith's 1815 geological map of Britain, where geologist/surveyor Smith began to piece together the geological history of Britain. Extreme age was apparent even then. It doesn't take a genius to recognize that the Earth is a hell of a lot older than 6,000 years, doesn't even take an evolutionist... just takes someone with an observant and reasonably intelligent mind.
Beep! Circle takes the square. By the end of the 18th century (note, that is about 50 years before the ToE), geologists knew the world was at least several hundred million years old. The whole "6,000 year old Earth" thingy can be traced to Bishop James Ussher and his 1650 chronology (Wikipedia, 2005). Of course, we have records from civilizations extending further back than October 23, 4004 B.C., rendering even conjecture on this point moot.
There is no "opposite". Evolution is evolution. Evolution is not some linear direction.
...i.e., anyone not a creationist.
"Uh... HELLO! This was a process needed when vitamin C wasn't available. Vitamin C is now largely available. Thus, it's an unecessary process."
So you are saying that vitamin C did not exist at that time? And if you are saying this, how do you know it did not exist? Just curious.
Prior to Darwin, the consensus among scientists was that the age earth was in the 10's of million of years. Geologists were working with these time frames before Darwin was born.
"If" true, then once again we see "devolution" in progress. An ancient ability was to form proteins was loss. And once again, this is going in the OPPOSITE direction of evolution.
Danny, many times in the past I have suggested that you really should try to learn something about biology before you attempt to pontificate upon it, and I must unfortunately do so again now.
Your lack of education on this subject -- and your creationist bias -- has yet again led you astray and caused you to misunderstand what you're reading. The article does not say that "An ancient ability was to form proteins was loss [sic]." On the contrary, it says that the human/chimp/orangutan clade EVOLVED a new and better form of the pre-existing protein, by gaining the ability to form it more efficiently in the face of shortages of Vitamin C -- a shortage faced by all primates.
Why don't you go learn something about the subject before you try to critique it? Your current lack of understanding causes you to keep getting stuff consistently wrong.
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