Amino Acids and Proteins in Fossil Biominerals

AMINO ACIDS AND PROTEINS IN FOSSIL BIOMINERALS

An essential cross-disciplinary guide to the proteins that form biominerals and that are preserved in the fossil record

Amino Acids and Proteins in Fossil Biominerals is an authoritative guide to the patterns of survival and degradation of ancient biomolecules in the fossil record. The author brings together new research in biomineralization and ancient proteins to describe mechanisms of protein diagenesis.

The book draws on the author's experiences as well as current information from three research fields: geochemistry, archaeology and Quaternary sciences. The author examines the history of the study of ancient proteins, from the dating of Quaternary biominerals to the present advances in shotgun proteomics, and discusses their applications across archaeology, geology and evolutionary biology.

This important guide:

• Explores the main components of biominerals
• Describes the breakdown of proteins in fossils
• Reviews the applications of ancient protein studies

Written for students and researchers of biomolecular archaeology and palaeontology,Amino Acids and Proteins in Fossil Biominerals provides a cross-disciplinary guide to the proteins responsible for the formation of biominerals and to the survival of biomolecules in the archaeological and palaeontological record.

This book forms one volume of the popular New Analytical Methods in Earth and Environmental Science Series.

Beatrice Demarchi, PhD, is a biomolecular archaeologist in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix

1Biominerals and the Fossil Record 1

Why Study Old Biominerals? 1

What are Biominerals? 4

How and Why are Biominerals Formed? 5

Biomineralization Toolkit: From Proteins to Proteomes 8

Fossil Biominerals, Fossil Proteomes 12

References 16

2Mechanisms of Degradation and Survival 23

Introduction 23

Hydrolysis 27

Racemization 31

Decomposition and Other Diagenesis-induced Modifications 35

References 38

3Proteins in Fossil Biominerals 43

Bone and Other Collagen-based Hard Tissues 43

Tooth 45

Eggshell 47

Mollusc Shell 51

Other Substrates 57

References 63

4Chiral Amino Acids: Geochronology and Other Applications 71

Dating the Quaternary (Pleistocene and Holocene) 71

Principles of AAR Dating 76

Measuring D/L Values 78

Factors Affecting D/L Values 82

Aminostratigraphy 87

Aminochronology 92

Palaeothermometry 97

Testing the Suitability of Biominerals for Geochemical Analyses 98

Taxonomic Identification 99

Appendix: Practical Tips on How to Plan and Conduct an AAR Study 100

References 104

5Ancient Protein Sequences 113

Ancient Protein Analysis by Mass Spectrometry 113

Ancient Proteins: Past and Future 120

References 122

Index 127