Ancient proteins resolve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell.
Authors
Grealy, Alicia
Deng, Yuan
Gilbert, Tom
Clarke, Julia
Boano, Rosa
Sicheritz-Pontén, Thomas
Magee, John
Bunce, Michael
Publication Date
2022-05-24Journal Title
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Pages
e2109326119
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Demarchi, B., Stiller, J., Grealy, A., Mackie, M., Deng, Y., Gilbert, T., Clarke, J., et al. (2022). Ancient proteins resolve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, e2109326119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109326119
Abstract
SignificanceThe controversy over the taxonomic identity of the eggs exploited by Australia's first people around 50,000 y ago is resolved. The birds that laid these eggs are extinct, and distinguishing between two main candidates, a giant flightless "mihirung" Genyornis and a large megapode Progura, had proven impossible using morphological and geochemical methods. Ancient DNA sequencing remains inconclusive because of the age and burial temperature of the eggshell. In contrast, ancient protein sequences recovered from the eggshell enabled estimation of the evolutionary affinity between the egg and a range of extant taxa. The eggs are those of a Galloanseres (a group that includes extinct Dromornithidae, as well as extant landfowl and waterfowl), Genyornis, and not of the megapode (Megapodiidae, crown Galliformes).
Keywords
Australia, Genyornis eggshell, ancient DNA, megafaunal extinction, paleoproteomics
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109326119
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337712
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