Background and Aim. Oreopithecus bambolii is one of the best-represented fossil hominoids in Europe. It evolved under insular conditions and was endemic to Tuscan-Sardinian paleobioprov-ince (Abbazzi et al. 2008; Rook 2016). Despite being accepted as a hominoid, the phylogeneti-cal position of this ape is uncertain. Its anatomy is a mosaic of primitive features and numerous hominid features. Therefore, it is extremely difficult and controversial to determine the phylogeny of Oreopithecus bambolii based only on morphological analysis. Some researchers consider this primate as a representant of a great ape that originated from European dryopithecines while oth-ers argue that it is a late survivor of the African nyanzapithecine lineage. The clarification of the phylogenetic position of Oreopithecus could provide a contribution to the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of European hominoids (Harrison and Rook 1997; Finarelli and Clyde 2004; Pugh 2022).Paleoproteomics, an emerging branch of molecular sciences, is giving a chance to resolve the evolutionary history of Oreopithecus bambolii. Paleoproteomics focuses on obtaining ancient pro-teins from osteological remains (Cappellini, Collins, and Gilbert 2014). Phylogenetical reconstruc-tion in paleoproteomics is based on the detection of variations between protein sequences coming from different species. For doing this Mass spectrometry is used to identify through mass spectra analysis short peptides from a protein database that consists of genome sequences of related species (Hendy et al. 2018).A pilot study was already made to check the presence of proteins in the enamel of Oreopithecus. Our analysis of dental enamel from a specimen from the site of Fiume Santo (Sardinia) allowed recovering only fragmentary proteins. Interestingly fragments of similar proteins were obtained from dental remains of Maremmia lorenzi and Maremmia haupti, bovids belonging to the same assemblage of the Oreopithecus Zone Fauna. This information arouses another question: Why do specific peptides survive into deep time? By answering this question, we may be able in the future to develop the methods in paleoproteomics and increase the probability of obtaining informative proteins. Keywords: paleoproteomics, miocene primates, phylogeny
Using ancient proteins to resolve the evolutionary history of Oreopithecus bambolii.
Weronika Karolina Cieszynska
Membro del Collaboration Group
2022-01-01
Abstract
Background and Aim. Oreopithecus bambolii is one of the best-represented fossil hominoids in Europe. It evolved under insular conditions and was endemic to Tuscan-Sardinian paleobioprov-ince (Abbazzi et al. 2008; Rook 2016). Despite being accepted as a hominoid, the phylogeneti-cal position of this ape is uncertain. Its anatomy is a mosaic of primitive features and numerous hominid features. Therefore, it is extremely difficult and controversial to determine the phylogeny of Oreopithecus bambolii based only on morphological analysis. Some researchers consider this primate as a representant of a great ape that originated from European dryopithecines while oth-ers argue that it is a late survivor of the African nyanzapithecine lineage. The clarification of the phylogenetic position of Oreopithecus could provide a contribution to the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of European hominoids (Harrison and Rook 1997; Finarelli and Clyde 2004; Pugh 2022).Paleoproteomics, an emerging branch of molecular sciences, is giving a chance to resolve the evolutionary history of Oreopithecus bambolii. Paleoproteomics focuses on obtaining ancient pro-teins from osteological remains (Cappellini, Collins, and Gilbert 2014). Phylogenetical reconstruc-tion in paleoproteomics is based on the detection of variations between protein sequences coming from different species. For doing this Mass spectrometry is used to identify through mass spectra analysis short peptides from a protein database that consists of genome sequences of related species (Hendy et al. 2018).A pilot study was already made to check the presence of proteins in the enamel of Oreopithecus. Our analysis of dental enamel from a specimen from the site of Fiume Santo (Sardinia) allowed recovering only fragmentary proteins. Interestingly fragments of similar proteins were obtained from dental remains of Maremmia lorenzi and Maremmia haupti, bovids belonging to the same assemblage of the Oreopithecus Zone Fauna. This information arouses another question: Why do specific peptides survive into deep time? By answering this question, we may be able in the future to develop the methods in paleoproteomics and increase the probability of obtaining informative proteins. Keywords: paleoproteomics, miocene primates, phylogenyI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
