Project description:Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the only extant species of the genus Crocuta, which once occupied a much wider range during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, its origin and evolutionary history is somewhat contentious due to discordances being found between morphological, nuclear, and mitochondrial data. Due to the limited molecular data from east Asian Crocuta, and the difficulty of extracting ancient DNA from this area, here we present proteomic analysis of cave hyenas from three locations in northern China. This marks the first proteomic data generated from cave hyenas, adding new molecular data to the east Asian populations. Phylogenetic analysis based on these protein sequences reveals two different groups of cave hyenas in east Asia, one of which could not be distinguished from modern spotted hyenas from northern Africa, tentatively the result of previously suggested gene flow between these lineages. With developments of instrumentation and analytical methods, proteomics holds promising potential for the phylogenetic reconstruction of ancient fauna previously thought to be unreachable using ancient DNA.
Project description:Genetic and limited palaeoanthropological data suggest that Denisovans, a sister group to Neanderthals, were once widely distributed in eastern Eurasia, likely stretching from high-latitude Siberia, to the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, to the low-latitude subtropical regions of southeast Asia. This suggests that Denisovans were capable of adapting to a highly diverse range of environments, but archaeological evidence for this is currently limited. As a result, we know little about their behaviours, including subsistence strategies, across the vast areas they likely occupied. Here, we describe the late Middle to Late Pleistocene faunal assemblage from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau, where the Xiahe Denisovan mandible and Denisovan sedimentary mtDNA were found, by integrating proteomic screening into traditional zooarchaeological analysis. The results indicate that the faunal assemblage consists of a diverse range of animals, including megafauna, large mammals, small mammals and birds, but is dominated by medium-sized herbivores. Frequent cut marks and percussion traces on bone surfaces throughout the assemblage, even on carnivore bones, indicate that Denisovan activities in Baishiya Karst Cave from at least 190 to 30 thousand years are responsible for the fauna assemblage accumulation. Thorough utilization of acquired animal resources, even perhaps the fur, too, might have helped Denisovans to survive through the last two glacial-interglacial cycles on the cold high-altitude Tibetan Plateau. Our results shed new light on Denisovan behaviours and their adaptations to the diverse and fluctuated environments in the Middle and Late Pleistocene eastern Eurasia.
2024-05-22 | PXD041874 | Pride
Project description:Large-scale mitogenomic analysis of the phylogeography of the Late Pleistocene cave bear
Project description:Gigantopithecus blacki was a giant hominid that inhabited Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene. Its evolutionary relationship to other great ape species, and their divergence during the Middle and Late Miocene (16-5.3 Mya), remains disputed. In part, this is due to the absence of cranial and postcranial remains and size-induced allometry. Proposed hypothesis on the phylogenetic positions of Gigantopithecus have therefore been wide-ranging among hominoids, but none has received independent validation based on molecular evidence. To clarify the phylogenetic placement of Gigantopithecus blacki, we retrieved enamel proteome sequences from a 1.9 million years (Mya) old molar found in Chuifeng Cave, China. We demonstrate that Gigantopithecus is most closely related to orangutans (genus Pongo). We also estimate the Gigantopithecus-Pongo divergence to about 10-12 Mya, implying its speciation is part of the Miocene radiation of great apes. These sequences are approximately 6 times older, in a normalized thermal context, than any previously published mammalian proteome or genome. The survival of an Early Pleistocene dental enamel proteome in the subtropics further expands the scope of palaeoproteomic analysis into geographic areas and time periods previously considered incompatible with biomolecular preservation.
2019-11-12 | PXD013838 | Pride
Project description:Paleogenetics of late Pleistocene Rhine hippos
| PRJNA1105865 | ENA
Project description:Ancient DNA from cave hyena coprolites, enriched for mammal mitogenomes
Project description:Hominin relationships and their dispersal throughout Eurasia during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are highly debated. The relationships between Early and Middle Pleistocene hominins, like Homo antecessor and Homo erectus, and hominin species that dominate the Late Pleistocene fossil record, like Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans, are unclear. Here, we obtain enamel proteomes from Homo antecessor (Atapuerca, Spain) and Homo erectus (Dmanisi, Georgia), two key fossil assemblages that have a central role in models of Pleistocene hominin morphology, dispersal, and divergence. We recover endogenous ancient proteomes from the Atapuerca and Dmanisi hominins. In addition, our proteomic data indicates that the sampled Homo antecessor molar derives from a male hominin through amelogenin protein sexing. Our data includes preserved in vivo phosphorylation and enamel proteome proteolytic digestion.
2020-04-02 | PXD014342 | Pride
Project description:Microbial communities from Late Pleistocene permafrost sediments