T. Rex Protein Analysis Supports Dinosaur-Bird Link

LanMan04 writes "For the first time, researchers have read the biological signature of a Tyrannosaur — a signature that confirms the increasingly accepted view that modern birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. Analyzing the organic material (collagen protein) found inside the unique fossil linked the collagen to several extant species. The bottom line is that the T. rex's biological signature was most like a bird's, at least based on the first fragmentary data. "It looks like chicken may be the closest among all species that are present in today's databases for proteins and genomes," one of the scientists interviewed said."

Comments

Re:Source of protein

[Rei]

For the most part, it has long been assumed that all dinosaur fossils had little to no organic material inside them. However, there was an incident, something like a year ago, when they couldn't fit a particularly large T-rex bone inside a helicopter, and cut it instead. They noticed that the fossil still had a bit of give on the inside and it looked like fresh tissue. A new study was initiated, and they dissolved the mineralized portion of the bone (and of others). What was left was the springy organic material -- even blood vessels were intact. They were not only able to study the proteins, but they were even able to tell that one of the dinosaurs studied was a brooding female.

Organic preservation like this is still believed to be a rare phenominon, but I'd expect many more ancient fossils to be inspected for organic remains from now on. Too bad DNA is as unstable in the long term as it is, though.