Scientists Recover Rare Proteins From 24-Million-Year-Old Rhino Fossil

Scientists have recovered ancient proteins from a fossilised rhinoceros tooth, which is a crucial step in the study of ancient life on Earth. The 21-to 24-million-year-old fossil was found in the Haughton Crater on Nunavut's Devon Island in the 1980s. The proteins were preserved in the tooth's enamel, which acted like a "vault" protecting them over millions of years. Researchers analysed the proteins using a technique called chiral amino acid analysis.

Danielle Fraser, the Canadian Museum of Nature's head of paleobiology and one of the research scientists involved in the study, revealed that the proteins are 10 times older than any previously recoverable sample of ancient DNA. 

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The discovery has opened up new possibilities for studying ancient life and evolution, potentially allowing researchers to analyse proteins from even older fossils, including dinosaur fossils. They can also use the analysis to study the evolutionary relationships between different species.

The proteins in the rhino fossil are intact in the high Arctic's dry, cold environment, and the hardiness of tooth enamel. Otherwise, ancient DNA does not typically survive beyond one million years. 

The study, published July 9 in the scientific journal Nature, suggests that proteins can survive for millions of years under the right conditions. 

The development would help in future research into ancient proteins and their potential to simplify our understanding of evolution.

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"It's very clear that the Arctic is creating a freezer allowing these proteins in these animals to be preserved over much longer time periods than we would expect. This really extends our ability to understand evolution back much farther than we previously thought," said Fraser. "Humans are the last few milliseconds on that clock right before you hit the 12. And that 23 million years is going to be about five minutes ago."

The ancient rhino diverged from other rhinocerotids during the Middle Eocene-Oligocene epoch, around 41-25 million years ago. 

The two main subfamilies of rhinos, Elasmotheriinae and Rhinocerotinae, diverged more recently than previously believed, around 34-22 million years ago.