Abstract
The recovery and analysis of ancient DNA and protein from archaeological bone is time-consuming and expensive to carry out, while it involves the partial or complete destruction of valuable or rare specimens. The fields of palaeogenetic and palaeoproteomic research would benefit greatly from techniques that can assess the molecular quality prior to sampling. To be relevant, such screening methods should be effective, minimally-destructive, and rapid. This study reports results based on spectroscopic (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance [FTIR-ATR]; n = 266), palaeoproteomic (collagen content; n = 226), and palaeogenetic (endogenous DNA content; n = 88) techniques. We establish thresholds for three different FTIR indices, a) the infrared splitting factor [IRSF] that assesses relative changes in bioapatite crystals’ size and homogeneity; b) the carbonate-to-phosphate [C/P] ratio as a relative measure of carbonate content in bioapatite crystals; and c) the amide-to-phosphate ratio [Am/P] for assessing the relative organic content preserved in bone. These thresholds are both extremely reliable and easy to apply for the successful and rapid distinction between well- and poorly-preserved specimens. This is a milestone for choosing appropriate samples prior to genomic and collagen analyses, with important implications for biomolecular archaeology and palaeontology.
Highlights
IntroductionAncient DNA (aDNA) extracted from archaeological and palaeontological bone (palaeogenetics) can provide insights on a plethora of different topics related to human evolution [1,2] and past societies (mobility [3,4]; biological sex [5,6]; kinship [7,8]; pathology [9,10]; animal domestication [11,12])
Ancient DNA extracted from archaeological and palaeontological bone can provide insights on a plethora of different topics related to human evolution [1,2] and past societies
Despite the weak correlation (R2 = 0.24) between aDNA and crystallinity (IRSF) and the very weak relationship (R2 = 0.13) with carbonate content (C/P), likely due to the complex interactions during diagenesis, there appear to be thresholds of both Infrared splitting factor (IRSF) and C/P that are related to endogenous DNA preservation
Summary
Ancient DNA (aDNA) extracted from archaeological and palaeontological bone (palaeogenetics) can provide insights on a plethora of different topics related to human evolution [1,2] and past societies (mobility [3,4]; biological sex [5,6]; kinship [7,8]; pathology [9,10]; animal domestication [11,12]). [32] and references therein), the dominant protein in bone (collagen) suffers post-mortem from biological, chemical, and environmental factors [33,34,35]. Despite the falling costs in palaeogenetic and palaeoproteomic studies, the establishment of any reliable screening method is a valuable tool. This is due to the technical difficulties associated with the recovery and analysis of aDNA and protein from bone, the partial destruction of valuable or rare specimens, and the still-high sequencing costs
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