On Apr 13, 6:15 am, johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:

In article <461eef42$0$5647$4c368...@roadrunner.com>,
"Carlos Trevino" <carl...@remove.bigfoot.com> wrote:

12 April 2007

Palaeontologists and biochemists in the US have joined forces to
identify
proteins from a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex, showing that
organic
matter containing biological information can be preserved for enormous
lengths of time under the right conditions.1 The research is helping to
uncover new evolutionary links between dinosaurs and living species.

A team led by Mary Schweitzer at North Carolina State University in
Raleigh,
US, had discovered the T. Rex skeleton in 2003 under 1000 m3 of
sandstone at
the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, US.2 The process of fossilization
usually replaces all organic matter with minerals, leaving only a stone
'copy' of the original. But when the fossilized femur and tibia bones
were
(reluctantly) being broken up for transport, the scientists found
'fibrous
and flexible soft tissues' inside. Angela Milner, a palaeontologist at
the
Natural History Museum in London told Chemistry World, 'The bones were
mummified without being completely fossilized - it is nice to recover
the
preserved proteins. Although most organic material like DNA will not
last
more than around 30,000 years, collagens are very robust - I have seen
them
in specimens up to 130-million-years-old.'

In a parallel study, a team led by John Asara at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, Boston, US, analysed both the T. Rex samples and the
bones
of a 160,000-year-old extinct mastodon, an ancient relative of the
elephant.3 They were using the latest ion-trap mass spectrometers,
usually
used to investigate human disease, to identify the amino acid building
blocks of the ancient proteins.

Asara told Chemistry World: 'We managed to sequence seventy protein
sequences from the mastodon and seven from the T. Rex.'
The scientists then compared the sequences with those found in modern
day
animals. 'The mastodon proteins matched living mammalian species like
cows,
elephants and dogs, whereas the T. Rex proteins matched chicken, newt
and
frog,' said Asara. 'By looking at this we can find chemical evidence
showing
that species such as birds have evolved from dinosaurs.'

As spectrometry and purification techniques improve in accuracy, the
team
hopes to extract more proteins from ancient dinosaur bones and discover
protein sequences that are unique to dinosaurs.
Lewis Brindley

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/April/12040702.asp

I posted this somewhere else. This is important because it shows the
first molecular link between dinosaurs and birds.
--
John #1782

"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."

- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.

One night farmer Brown was takin' the air
Locked up the barnyard with the greatest of care
Down in the hen house something stirred
When he shouted, "Who's there?"
This is what he heard
There ain't nobody here but us T. Rex
There ain't nobody here at all
So calm yourself and stop that fuss
There ain't nobody here but us
We T. Rex tryin' to sleep and you butt in
And hobble, hobble, hobble, hobble, with your chin

<chomp>

The End.

On Apr 13, 6:15 am, johac <jhachm...@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:

In article <461eef42$0$5647$4c368...@roadrunner.com>,
"Carlos Trevino" <carl...@remove.bigfoot.com> wrote:

12 April 2007

Palaeontologists and biochemists in the US have joined forces to identify
proteins from a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex, showing that
organic
matter containing biological information can be preserved for enormous
lengths of time under the right conditions.1 The research is helping to
uncover new evolutionary links between dinosaurs and living species.

A team led by Mary Schweitzer at North Carolina State University in
Raleigh,
US, had discovered the T. Rex skeleton in 2003 under 1000 m3 of sandstone
at
the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, US.2 The process of fossilization
usually replaces all organic matter with minerals, leaving only a stone
'copy' of the original. But when the fossilized femur and tibia bones
were
(reluctantly) being broken up for transport, the scientists found
'fibrous
and flexible soft tissues' inside. Angela Milner, a palaeontologist at
the
Natural History Museum in London told Chemistry World, 'The bones were
mummified without being completely fossilized - it is nice to recover the
preserved proteins. Although most organic material like DNA will not last
more than around 30,000 years, collagens are very robust - I have seen
them
in specimens up to 130-million-years-old.'

In a parallel study, a team led by John Asara at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, Boston, US, analysed both the T. Rex samples and the
bones
of a 160,000-year-old extinct mastodon, an ancient relative of the
elephant.3 They were using the latest ion-trap mass spectrometers,
usually
used to investigate human disease, to identify the amino acid building
blocks of the ancient proteins.

Asara told Chemistry World: 'We managed to sequence seventy protein
sequences from the mastodon and seven from the T. Rex.'
The scientists then compared the sequences with those found in modern day
animals. 'The mastodon proteins matched living mammalian species like
cows,
elephants and dogs, whereas the T. Rex proteins matched chicken, newt and
frog,' said Asara. 'By looking at this we can find chemical evidence
showing
that species such as birds have evolved from dinosaurs.'

As spectrometry and purification techniques improve in accuracy, the team
hopes to extract more proteins from ancient dinosaur bones and discover
protein sequences that are unique to dinosaurs.
Lewis Brindley

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/April/12040702.asp

I posted this somewhere else. This is important because it shows the
first molecular link between dinosaurs and birds.
--
John #1782

"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."

- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.

One night farmer Brown was takin' the air
Locked up the barnyard with the greatest of care
Down in the hen house something stirred
When he shouted, "Who's there?"
This is what he heard
There ain't nobody here but us T. Rex
There ain't nobody here at all
So calm yourself and stop that fuss
There ain't nobody here but us
We T. Rex tryin' to sleep and you butt in
And hobble, hobble, hobble, hobble, with your chin

<chomp>

The End.