scholarly journals Molecular tests support the viability of rare earth elements as proxies for fossil biomolecule preservation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Ullmann ◽  
Kristyn K. Voegele ◽  
David E. Grandstaff ◽  
Richard D. Ash ◽  
Wenxia Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Structural Protein ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
Simple Diffusion ◽  
Hell Creek Formation ◽  
Molecular Tests ◽  
Recovery Potential ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Biomolecular Assays

Abstract The rare earth element (REE) composition of a fossil bone reflects its chemical alteration during diagenesis. Consequently, fossils presenting low REE concentrations and/or REE profiles indicative of simple diffusion, signifying minimal alteration, have been proposed as ideal candidates for paleomolecular investigation. We directly tested this prediction by conducting multiple biomolecular assays on a well-preserved fibula of the dinosaur Edmontosaurus from the Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation previously found to exhibit low REE concentrations and steeply-declining REE profiles. Gel electrophoresis identified the presence of organic material in this specimen, and subsequent immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays identified preservation of epitopes of the structural protein collagen I. Our results thereby support the utility of REE profiles as proxies for soft tissue and biomolecular preservation in fossil bones. Based on considerations of trace element taphonomy, we also draw predictions as to the biomolecular recovery potential of additional REE profile types exhibited by fossil bones.

Interrelationship of the cellular distribution and secretion of regular structure (RS) protein in Bacillus licheniformis nm 105

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 712-713
Author(s):  
Xiaorong Zhu ◽  
Richard McVeigh ◽  
Bijan K. Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Alkaline Phosphatase ◽  
Bacillus Licheniformis ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Culture Supernatant ◽  
Regular Structure ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cellular Distribution ◽  
Structural Protein ◽  
Laboratory Cultures

A mutant of Bacillus licheniformis 749/C, NM 105 exhibits some notable properties, e.g., arrest of alkaline phosphatase secretion and overexpression and hypersecretion of RS protein. Although RS is known to be widely distributed in many microbes, it is rarely found, with a few exceptions, in laboratory cultures of microorganisms. RS protein is a structural protein and has the unusual properties to form aggregate. This characteristic may have been responsible for the self assembly of RS into regular tetragonal structures. Another uncommon characteristic of RS is that enhanced synthesis and secretion which occurs when the cells cease to grow. Assembled RS protein with a tetragonal structure is not seen inside cells at any stage of cell growth including cells in the stationary phase of growth. Gel electrophoresis of the culture supernatant shows a very large amount of RS protein in the stationary culture of the B. licheniformis. It seems, Therefore, that the RS protein is cotranslationally secreted and self assembled on the envelope surface.

On the way to ‘zero waste’ management: Recovery potential of elements, including rare earth elements, from fine fraction of waste

2018 ◽  
Vol 186 ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juris Burlakovs ◽  
Yahya Jani ◽  
Mait Kriipsalu ◽  
Zane Vincevica-Gaile ◽  
Fabio Kaczala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Zero Waste ◽  
Recovery Potential ◽  
The Way

scholarly journals AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Bones at Arizona

Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (03) ◽  
pp. 231-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Long ◽  
A T Wilson ◽  
R D Ernst ◽  
B H Gore ◽  
P E Hare
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Extraneous Material

Modern bone contains ca 25% protein material, most of which is collagen. Amino acids separated from collagen isolated from bone are suitable for 14C dating of fossil bone, but attempts to carry out this procedure on bones seriously depleted in protein can yield erroneous 14C dates. Amino-acid analysis of fossil bone gives quantitative information on the degree of preservation of its organic component. Also, the relative abundance of the amino-acid components reveal the degree to which the collagen-like pattern has been altered. Alteration may be caused by addition of extraneous material. A 1mg sample of bone material is sufficient for this preliminary analysis. We have developed a series of acceptance criteria for whether a particular specimen is likely to yield the correct 14C age. 14C dating of fossil bones not seriously depleted in protein is a straightforward procedure and yields reliable dates.

"Microgel diffusion blotting" for sensitive detection of antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens

1990 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
F De Keyser ◽  
G Verbruggen ◽  
E M Veys ◽  
J Nimmegeers ◽  
L Schatteman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatic Diseases ◽  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Polyacrylamide Gel ◽  
Sensitive Detection ◽  
Nitrocellulose Membrane ◽  
Double Immunodiffusion ◽  
Simple Diffusion ◽  
Gel Layer ◽  
Nuclear Antigens

Abstract A fast immunoblotting procedure, termed "microgel diffusion blotting," is used to detect and identify antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens (i.e., to Sm, RNP, and SSB) in patients with rheumatic diseases. The method differs from the standard immunoblotting techniques by the use of ultra-thin microgels for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: the very thin gel layer allows transfer of proteins to a nitrocellulose membrane by simple diffusion. Principal advantages of this variant technique are its simplicity, rapidity, and reproducibility--characteristics that make the test suitable for routine application. We compared the sensitivity of the test with that of double immunodiffusion in agarose for the evaluation of humoral antinuclear immunity. Microgel diffusion blotting detected antibodies in serum at concentrations less than 0.001 of those detectable by immunodiffusion.

STRUCTURAL AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF SINGLE CRYSTAL RARE EARTH Gd-Y SUPERLATTICES

1985 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kwo ◽  
D. B. McWhan ◽  
M. Hong ◽  
E. M. Gyorgy ◽  
F. J. DiSalvo
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Single Crystal ◽  
Magnetic Ordering ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Simple Diffusion ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Composition Modulation ◽  
Strain Modulation ◽  
Simple Diffusion Model ◽  
Magnetization Behavior

AbstractHigh quality single crystal rare earth Gd-Y superlattices with wavelength varying from 8to 42 atomic layers were grown by the recently developed metal molecular beam epitaxy technique. The crystallinity and coherence of the superlattices were examined by X-ray diffraction, and the profiles of composition modulation and strain modulation were determined from a quantitative analysis based on a simple diffusion model for the Gd-Y interfaces. The sharp boundaries achieved in these metallic superlattices are approaching those in semiconductor superlattices. The various in-plane magnetization behavior at low fieldsamong superlattices of different wavelengths suggests the possible presence of new magnetic ordering structures as caused by the artificial modulation.

The Radioactivity of Materials from the Scharbauer Site, near Midland, Texas

1958 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth P. Oakley ◽  
Arthur E. Rixon
Keyword(s):  
Ground Water ◽  
Present Method ◽  
Uranium Content ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
Hydrological Conditions ◽  
Carbon 14 ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Fresh Bone

It was shown by Bowie and Davidson (1955) that measurement of the beta radioactivity of fossil bones in a mixed assemblage is a useful means of determining their relative ages. Buried bones and teeth adsorb uranium from percolating ground water, so that with the passage of time there is an increase in their radioactivity. There can be no confusion with the decreasing radioactivity of the carbon-14 of residual collagen in fossil bones, for this is far too feeble to be measured by the technique employed here. When fresh bone is tested by the present method no radioactivity can be detected. The uranium content of a fossil bone depends not only on the length of time that it has been buried, but also on the permeability of the matrix, on the hydrological conditions at the site, and on the uranium content of the water coming into contact with the specimen.

scholarly journals On the Late Pliocene stone tools of the Quranwala Zone, north-west sub-Himalayas, India

Antiquity ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (357) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidwan Singh Soni ◽  
Anujot Singh Soni
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
North West ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Fossil Bones

A recent study of the Quranwala Zone (QZ) of the north-west sub-Himalayas, India, presents evidence for anthropic activity during the Pliocene that includes a number of stone tools found in association with fossil animal bones with cut marks. Based on the date of the Pliocene rock outcrop, the tools and bones are suggested to date from 2.6 Ma (Gaillard et al. 2016). There is, however, a question mark over the context of these tools within an outcrop of Pliocene rocks and, hence, over the date of these tools and the fossil bones. The trench from which they were excavated at Masol 2 (Gaillard et al.2016: fig. 3) lies in a depression at the bottom of a slope; the description provided in section 2 of the paper by Gaillard et al. (2016) suggests that the stone tools may not have been in situ within the Pliocene levels, but had accumulated there and were mixed with the fragments of fossil bone due to geological processes. Moreover, many of the stone tools, such as the ‘simple choppers’ found in association with the fossil animal bones (Gaillard et al.2016: figs 6, 8, 9), are usually found on much more recent sites and are therefore unlikely to date from 2.6 Ma.

scholarly journals Life Inside a Dinosaur Bone: a Thriving Microbiome

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan T. Saitta ◽  
Renxing Liang ◽  
Chui Y. Lau ◽  
Caleb M. Brown ◽  
Nicholas R. Longrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
16S Rrna ◽  
Open System ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Organic Molecules ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Fossil Bone ◽  
16S Rrna Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Fossil Bones

AbstractFossils were long thought to lack original organic material, but the discovery of organic molecules in fossils and sub-fossils, thousands to millions of years old, has demonstrated the potential of fossil organics to provide radical new insights into the fossil record. How long different organics can persist remains unclear, however. Non-avian dinosaur bone has been hypothesised to preserve endogenous organics including collagen, osteocytes, and blood vessels, but proteins and labile lipids are unstable during diagenesis or over long periods of time. Furthermore, bone is porous and an open system, allowing microbial and organic flux. Some of these organics within fossil bone have therefore been identified as either contamination or microbial biofilm, rather than original organics. Here, we use biological and chemical analyses of Late Cretaceous dinosaur bones and sediment matrix to show that dinosaur bone hosts a diverse microbiome. Fossils and matrix were freshly-excavated, aseptically-acquired, and then analysed using microscopy, spectroscopy, chromatography, spectrometry, DNA extraction, and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The fossil organics differ from modern bone collagen chemically and structurally. A key finding is that 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing reveals that the subterranean fossil bones host a unique, living microbiome distinct from that of the surrounding sediment. Even in the subsurface, dinosaur bone is biologically active and behaves as an open system, attracting microbes that might alter original organics or complicate the identification of original organics. These results suggest caution regarding claims of dinosaur bone ‘soft tissue’ preservation and illustrate a potential role for microbial communities in post-burial taphonomy.

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