Palaeoproteomic analyses of dog palaeofaeces reveal a preserved dietary and host digestive proteome.
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Authors
Runge, Anne Kathrine W
Hendy, Jessica
Richter, Kristine K
Masson-MacLean, Edouard
Britton, Kate
Mackie, Meaghan
McGrath, Krista
Cappellini, Enrico
Speller, Camilla
Publication Date
2021-07-14Journal Title
Proc Biol Sci
ISSN
0962-8452
Publisher
The Royal Society
Volume
288
Issue
1954
Pages
20210020
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Runge, A. K. W., Hendy, J., Richter, K. K., Masson-MacLean, E., Britton, K., Mackie, M., McGrath, K., et al. (2021). Palaeoproteomic analyses of dog palaeofaeces reveal a preserved dietary and host digestive proteome.. Proc Biol Sci, 288 (1954), 20210020. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0020
Abstract
The domestic dog has inhabited the anthropogenic niche for at least 15 000 years, but despite their impact on human strategies, the lives of dogs and their interactions with humans have only recently become a subject of interest to archaeologists. In the Arctic, dogs rely exclusively on humans for food during the winter, and while stable isotope analyses have revealed dietary similarities at some sites, deciphering the details of provisioning strategies have been challenging. In this study, we apply zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to dog palaeofaeces to investigate protein preservation in this highly degradable material and obtain information about the diet of domestic dogs at the Nunalleq site, Alaska. We identify a suite of digestive and metabolic proteins from the host species, demonstrating the utility of this material as a novel and viable substrate for the recovery of gastrointestinal proteomes. The recovered proteins revealed that the Nunalleq dogs consumed a range of Pacific salmon species (coho, chum, chinook and sockeye) and that the consumed tissues derived from muscle and bone tissues as well as roe and guts. Overall, the study demonstrated the viability of permafrost-preserved palaeofaeces as a unique source of host and dietary proteomes.
Keywords
Animals, Dogs, Hominidae, Proteome, Diet, Alaska, Arctic Regions
Sponsorship
DNRF, EU
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0020
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330065
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