Evolution is a controversial issue and
many of today?s hypotheses are largely
based on the architecture of bones.
With regards to the evolution of birds,
most researchers have long suspected
that they evolved from dinosaurs, but
again this theory is based on the
morphological similarities in bird and
dinosaur skeletons. Historically, it was
believed that the process of
fossilisation destroyed any original
protein material found inside bones.
However, it has recently been
discovered that fossilised bones from
extinct taxa harbour the potential for
obtaining protein or DNA sequences
that could reveal evolutionary links to
today?s species. Identifying a
relationship between the protein
fragment sequences of dinosaurs and
birds could allow scientists to positively
conclude that the two species are
evolutionarily related.
Author Details:
John Asara PhD, Director,
Mass Spectrometry Core Facility,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
and Instructor in Pathology,
Harvard Medical School
?The first
challenge facing
the research team
was gathering
enough protein
to sequence?
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