Proteomic analysis of a Pleistocene mammoth femur reveals more than one hundred ancient bone proteins

TY - JOUR

T1 - Proteomic analysis of a Pleistocene mammoth femur reveals more than one hundred ancient bone proteins

AU - Cappellini, Enrico

AU - Jensen, Lars J

AU - Szklarczyk, Damian

AU - Ginolhac, Aurélien

AU - da Fonseca, Rute A R

AU - Stafford, Thomas W

AU - Holen, Steven R

AU - Collins, Matthew J

AU - Orlando, Ludovic

AU - Willerslev, Eske

AU - Gilbert, M Thomas P

AU - Olsen, Jesper V

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - We used high-sensitivity, high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry to shotgun sequence ancient protein remains extracted from a 43,000 years old woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) bone preserved in the Siberian permafrost . For the first time, 126 unique protein accessions, mostly low-abundance extracellular matrix and plasma proteins, were confidently identified by solid molecular evidence. Among the best characterized was the carrier protein serum albumin, presenting two single amino acid substitutions compared to extant African (Loxodonta africana) and Indian (Elephas maximus) elephant. Strong evidence was observed of amino acid modifications due to post-mortem hydrolytic and oxidative damage. A consistent subset of this permafrost bone proteome was also identified in more recent Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) samples from temperate latitudes, extending the potential of the approach described beyond sub-polar environments. Mass spectrometry-based ancient protein sequencing offers new perspectives for future molecular phylogenetic inference and physiological studies on samples not amenable to ancient DNA investigation. This approach therefore represents a further step into the on-going integration of different high-throughput technologies for identification of ancient biomolecules, unleashing the field of paleoproteomics.

AB - We used high-sensitivity, high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry to shotgun sequence ancient protein remains extracted from a 43,000 years old woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) bone preserved in the Siberian permafrost . For the first time, 126 unique protein accessions, mostly low-abundance extracellular matrix and plasma proteins, were confidently identified by solid molecular evidence. Among the best characterized was the carrier protein serum albumin, presenting two single amino acid substitutions compared to extant African (Loxodonta africana) and Indian (Elephas maximus) elephant. Strong evidence was observed of amino acid modifications due to post-mortem hydrolytic and oxidative damage. A consistent subset of this permafrost bone proteome was also identified in more recent Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) samples from temperate latitudes, extending the potential of the approach described beyond sub-polar environments. Mass spectrometry-based ancient protein sequencing offers new perspectives for future molecular phylogenetic inference and physiological studies on samples not amenable to ancient DNA investigation. This approach therefore represents a further step into the on-going integration of different high-throughput technologies for identification of ancient biomolecules, unleashing the field of paleoproteomics.

U2 - 10.1021/pr200721u

DO - 10.1021/pr200721u

M3 - Article

C2 - 22103443

VL - 11

SP - 917

EP - 926

JO - Journal of Proteome Research

JF - Journal of Proteome Research

IS - 2

ER -