CAREER: Taphonomic Insights into Molecular Equilibration and Soft Tissue and Molecular Preservation

About This Grant

For over a century, the idea that biological molecules such as DNA or proteins could survive in ancient fossils was assumed impossible. However, the advent of high-resolution imaging technologies and biochemistry techniques over the last 30 years has shown this is not the case. In fact, paleontologists have recently made numerous remarkable discoveries of fossilized cells and soft tissues in fossil bones of dinosaurs and many other extinct animals. These discoveries are forcing paleontologists to revise models of fossilization to account for the preservation of biologic molecules in the fossil record. However, it remains unclear how such remarkable preservation occurs, which materials are most resilient to decay, and why. This project will identify which portions of bone material are most resilient to decay both before and after burial. These answers will help paleontologists and archeologists revise models of fossilization and discover new instances of molecular preservation in fossils, and they could also see future applications more broadly in the fields of forensics, historical art conservation, and tissue engineering (such as for wound healing and bone regeneration). In addition, this CAREER award will provide training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at the University of North Dakota in the application of new and cutting-edge analytical techniques. The researchers will also create and run a novel hands-on activity about fossilization with regional K-8 classes and youth STEM camps, and develop a high school biology curriculum module for regional schools which explores the structure of protein molecules. Integration of this research with education activities during this CAREER award will annually serve ~500 K-12 students from rural communities of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Altogether, these efforts will bring scientific attention to rural communities of this region, create exciting new research infrastructure and opportunities for undergraduates at the state’s namesake university, and foster broad participation and public engagement with exceptional fossils recovered from the state, such as the mummified dinosaur “Dakota.” Through integrating modern trace element geochemistry and proteomics approaches, this research will illuminate how several environmental variables influence initial decay of collagen I, a bone structural protein, after death. Two complementary forms of high-resolution mass spectrometry will be completed on naturally-weathered bones from Texas and Alaska to determine the influences of ambient temperature on the sequence-level decay of collagen. To further explore the importance of entombing sediments on protein decay, the same analyses will also be performed on bones subjected to decay after simulated ‘burial’ and exposure to flowing, simulated ‘groundwaters’ in a year-long laboratory experiment. Results from these three complementary projects will clarify relationships between chemical alteration and the sequence-level decay of collagen, which will in turn be used to elucidate preservation mechanisms which can promote the long-term stability of proteins over geologic timescales. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.