Robert Reisz / en Good ribbance: ÇŃ×ÓÖ±˛Ą researcher finds dino rib bones reveal remnants of 195-million-year-old protein /news/good-ribbance-u-t-researcher-finds-dino-rib-bones-reveal-remnants-195-million-year-old-protein <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Good ribbance: ÇŃ×ÓÖ±˛Ą researcher finds dino rib bones reveal remnants of 195-million-year-old protein</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Lufengosaurusinground.jpg?h=0d27ee61&amp;itok=51rdJQQq 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Lufengosaurusinground.jpg?h=0d27ee61&amp;itok=8BZq2g70 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Lufengosaurusinground.jpg?h=0d27ee61&amp;itok=JdeXIHTJ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Lufengosaurusinground.jpg?h=0d27ee61&amp;itok=51rdJQQq" alt="Photo of dinosaur"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-02-01T10:02:00-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - 10:02" class="datetime">Wed, 02/01/2017 - 10:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Skeleton of the 195-million-year-old dinosaur “Lufengosaurus” preserved as found in the ground in Yunnan Province, China. (photo courtesy of Robert Reisz)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nicolle-wahl" hreflang="en">Nicolle Wahl</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Nicolle Wahl</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dinosaur" hreflang="en">Dinosaur</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/protein" hreflang="en">Protein</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/paleontology" hreflang="en">Paleontology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">ÇŃ×ÓÖ±˛Ą Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/robert-reisz" hreflang="en">Robert Reisz</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Is fossilized rock all that remains when a dinosaur decomposes?</p> <p>New research from scientists at the University of Toronto and researchers in China and Taiwan provides the first evidence that proteins have been preserved within the 195-million-year-old rib of the sauropodomorph dinosaur <em>Lufengosaurus</em>.</p> <p>The study appears in the Jan. 31&nbsp;issue of the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14220"><em>Nature Communications</em></a>&nbsp;and the news is already making headlines around the world.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/02/01/oldest-proteins-ever-have-been-found-in-a-195-million-year-old-dinosaur-scientist-say/?utm_term=.aecda336715a&amp;wpisrc=nl_science&amp;wpmm=1">Read <em>The Washington Post</em> story</a></h3> <p>“These dinosaur proteins are more than 100 million years older than anything previously discovered,” says Professor <strong>Robert Reisz</strong>, a specialist in vertebrate paleontology in the department of biology at ÇŃ×ÓÖ±˛Ą Mississauga. &nbsp;“These proteins are the building blocks of animal soft tissues, and it’s exciting to understand how they have been preserved.”</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3338 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="563" src="/sites/default/files/dino%20protein.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Close up of a cross section of the “Lufengosaurus”&nbsp;rib, showing how the bone was organized around vascular canals that contained blood vessels in the living dinosaur, and ran along the length of the rib (photo courtesy of Robert Reisz)</em></p> <p>The Canada-Taiwan research team, led by Reisz, used the synchrotron at the Taiwanese National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre to find the substance in place, known as collagen type I, preserved within the tiny vascular canals of the rib where blood vessels and blood would be in the living dinosaur.</p> <h3><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/195-million-year-old-dinosaur-bone-yield-traces-of-soft-tissue/article33846083/">Read more at the <em>Globe and Mail</em></a></h3> <h3><a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/dino-rib-yields-evidence-of-oldest-soft-tissue-162108906.html">Read the Agence-France Presse story</a></h3> <h3><a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/dino-rib-yields-evidence-of-oldest-soft-tissue-162108906.html">Read more about the discovery at BBC News</a></h3> <p>The collagen was found together with lots of small, spherical hematite particles. Hematite is a mineral that can be formed from the iron in hemoglobin, the oxygen-transport protein in red blood cells. The chemical bond between iron and oxygen is what gives blood cells their red colour.&nbsp;</p> <p>Reisz and his colleagues believe that these hematite particles were derived from the original blood of the dinosaur, and that they acted as the catalyst for preserving the protein in the vascular canals of the bone. These collagen pieces are probably remnants of the blood vessels that supplied blood to the bone cells in the living dinosaur.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Interestingly, there was no evidence of preservation of organic remains in the main mass of the bone, only in the small vascular canals that ran along the length of the rib, where hematite was also present” says Reisz.</p> <p>“Our localized search, in areas of the bone that are likely to preserve remnants of the original soft tissues, is more likely to succeed than previously used methods. This approach has great future potential, because localized searches will yield important results even when the amount of organic remains is miniscule.”</p> <p>Previous evidence of preserved collagen date back to the Late Cretaceous Period – more than 100 million years younger than this discovery – but those studies extracted the organic remains by dissolving away all other parts of the fossil, without a clear understanding of the precise origins of the collagen.</p> <p>This research allowed the scientists to find the collagen in place&nbsp;without dissolving the rest of the fossil,&nbsp;and it has helped them understand how the organic remains were preserved. Reisz believes that future explorations for even older proteins will be possible if this technique is used.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:02:00 +0000 ullahnor 104253 at 300 teeth? Duck-billed dinosaurs would have been dentist’s dream /news/300-teeth-duck-billed-dinosaurs <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">300 teeth? Duck-billed dinosaurs would have been dentist’s dream</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/dinoteeth.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=nwEKRd61 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/dinoteeth.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=77J-gbrA 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/dinoteeth.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IneNfKLW 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/dinoteeth.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=nwEKRd61" alt="Artist depiction of duck-billed dinosaurs"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-08-16T10:03:50-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - 10:03" class="datetime">Tue, 08/16/2016 - 10:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Artist depiction of hadrosaurs (image copyright Danielle Dufault)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/elaine-smith" hreflang="en">Elaine Smith</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Elaine Smith</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dinosaurs" hreflang="en">Dinosaurs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-toronto-mississauga" hreflang="en">University of Toronto Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/paleontology" hreflang="en">Paleontology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/robert-reisz" hreflang="en">Robert Reisz</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Imagine how much dental care you’d need if you had 300 or more teeth packed together on each side of your mouth.</p> <p>Duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs), who lived in the Cretaceous period between 90 million and 65 million years ago, sported this unique dental system, which had never been fully understood until it was examined at the microscopic level through recent research conducted by&nbsp;<strong>Aaron LeBlanc</strong>, a University of Toronto Mississauga PhD candidate; his supervisor, Professor&nbsp;<strong>Robert Reisz&nbsp;</strong>(University of Toronto Mississauga vice-dean, graduate), and colleagues at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of the Rockies.</p> <p>Rather than shedding teeth and replacing them with new ones like other reptiles, hadrosaurs’ mouths contain several parallel stacks of six or more teeth apiece, forming a “highly dynamic network” of teeth that was used to grind and shear tough plant material. Although hadrosaur teeth appear to be fused in place, LeBlanc and his colleagues show that the newest teeth were constantly pushed towards the chewing surface by a complex set of ligaments. When viewed under the microscope, the columns of teeth are not physically touching and are held together by the sand and mud that can get in between the teeth following the decay of the soft ligaments after the animals died.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1708 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="453" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Fig.%204%20Hadrosaur%20battery%20modelR1.jpg?itok=jbCuDvZt" typeof="foaf:Image" width="397" loading="lazy"></p> <p>“Hadrosaur teeth are actually similar to what we have because our teeth are not solidly attached to our jaws. Like us, hadrosaur teeth would have had some fine-scale mobility as they chewed thanks to this ligament system that suspended the teeth in place,” says Reisz.</p> <p>As they reached the grinding surface, hadrosaur teeth were essentially dead, filled with hard tissue – unlike humans, whose teeth have an inner core filled with blood vessels and nerves.</p> <p>“Since the teeth were already dead, they could be ground down to little nubbins,” Reisz says.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1709 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/tooth_closeup.jpg?itok=WmpnTg_C" style="width: 300px; height: 292px; float: left; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" typeof="foaf:Image">LeBlanc says this tooth structure<span style="line-height: 20.8px;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span>with its tough grinding surface<span style="line-height: 20.8px;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span>was “well-adapted to break down tough plant material for digestion,” through both shearing and grinding. This adaptation may have contributed to the hadrosaurs’ longevity and proliferation.</p> <p>Reisz says that hadrosaurs had “probably the most complex dental system ever made.”</p> <p>“It’s very elegant – not a single brick of teeth working as a solid unit,” he says. “It’s more like chain mail, providing flexibility as well as strength.”</p> <p>LeBlanc notes that the duck-billed dinosaur has been known for over 150 years and its dental system has long been recognized as unique, but no one had taken a look inside it at the microscopic level previously. He created thin sections of entire dental assemblies from the upper and lower jaws, that he then ground down, polished and examined under a powerful microscope. Working with their museum colleagues, he and Reisz were also able to explore how hadrosaur teeth form in embryos and hatchlings, providing a more complete picture of this unique model of dental evolution and development.</p> <p>“The amazing thing is how consistently these dental assemblies conform to our hypothesis of how the system works,” LeBlanc says. “Even in the youngest specimens, the same processes that maintained dental assemblies in the adults were visible.”</p> <p>The paper, published online in<a href="https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-016-0721-1">&nbsp;BMC Evolutionary Biology</a>, is part of LeBlanc’s PhD research into the evolution and development of teeth in reptiles and mammals.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 16 Aug 2016 14:03:50 +0000 lavende4 99981 at