[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/10881\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHumans\u2019 family tree revealed by ancient proteins\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey are a fixture of almost every novelty T-shirt shop: humorous pictorials of human evolution, five figures in silhouette \u2013 from ape to human \u2013 usually with the last replaced by a skateboarder, Darth Vader or maybe even a barcode.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhatever these fashion statements say about people\u2019s sense of humour, they reveal a fascination with human evolution.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProtein power\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow, researchers are on the cusp of acquiring much more knowledge about humankind\u2019s family tree. And it\u2019s all down to proteins.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnalysing the proteins in ancient materials, a field known as\u0026nbsp;palaeoproteomics, allows insights beyond the bounds of DNA scrutiny and is a fast-growing research area that also touches on biology, palaeontology and archaeology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrehistoric proteins can survive in a range of environmental conditions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We can retrieve ancient proteins from temperate environments \u2013 so from the latitudes close to ours,\u2019 said Dr Enrico Cappellini, a palaeoproteomics expert at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. \u2018Then we started to see that we could retrieve proteins from species that come from tropical environments.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECappellini leads a project that received EU funding to advance\u0026nbsp;palaeoproteomics research into the evolution of hominids, a broad group that includes all Great Apes and their ancestors.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECalled\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/101021361\u0022\u003EBACKWARD\u003C\/a\u003E, the project is still very much heading forward. It runs for five years until the end of 2026.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2023.07.03.547326v1\u0022\u003EJuly 2023\u003C\/a\u003E, Cappellini and colleagues revealed the oldest genetic data ever collected from a hominin, a category that is narrower than hominid and includes species regarded as human or directly ancestral to humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe information came from a distant human cousin who lived in Africa 2 million years ago. The sequenced proteins were extracted from the enamel of four teeth found in a cave 40 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg in South Africa\u2019s Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EReverse engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile DNA carries genetic information, proteins are the expression of that genetic information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis means that the amino acid sequence of a protein can be reverse-engineered by scientists to gain information on the DNA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EWe started to see that we could retrieve proteins from species that come from tropical environments.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Enrico Cappellini, BACKWARD\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd proteins can survive for much longer than DNA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis longevity is crucial for researchers because they say learning more about the historical lineage of the human species requires looking at the Middle Pleistocene period, which was between 777 000 and 126 000 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the Middle Pleistocene we have very little DNA preservation,\u2019 said Dr Frido Welker, an expert in human evolution also at the University of Copenhagen. \u2018Proteins, therefore, are a potential molecular solution to get some genetic information.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWelker leads a separate EU-funded project to improve the extraction and computational analysis of ancient skeletal proteins while limiting destruction of hominin fossils.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECalled\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/948365\u0022\u003EPROSPER\u003C\/a\u003E, the five-year initiative runs through November 2025. The research focuses on ancient proteins and proteomes, which are large sets of proteins.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to enable scientists to extract enough proteins from ancient skeletons to address evolutionary questions about time periods longer ago than around 130 000 years, according to Welker.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There are many avenues to explore \u2013 chemically, computationally and others \u2013 that hopefully will allow us to get access to larger, more informative proteomes,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBeyond DNA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDecades of advances in DNA sequencing technology have enabled scientists to extract genetic material from very old human skeletons and compare it with those of modern humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis has provided major insights into the genetic history of extinct hominins, such as the similarity between human DNA and that of Neanderthals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2010, ancient DNA even enabled scientists to identify a previously unknown species of hominin \u2013 the Denisovans.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut DNA simply doesn\u2019t survive long enough to offer the potential that proteins do in opening up vast new sources of prehistorical data.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPROSPER will also look to improve understanding of sample taints, which can occur when ancient skeletal remains are dug up and handled by humans.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Contamination is a real issue when studying ancient biomolecules,\u2019 said Welker. \u2018We need to think about strategies on how to identify contamination and how to remove it from our datasets or our samples.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArchaic orangutans\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWelker and Cappellini are at the forefront of worldwide research in this field.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EThere are many avenues to explore \u2013 chemically, computationally and others.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Frido Welker, PROSPER\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2019, both were among scientists who made a major protein removal from a now extinct large ape species called Gigantopithecus blacki, which lived from around 2 million to 350 000 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group extracted proteins from a 1.9-million-year-old molar in a cave in a subtropical part of southern China.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGigantopithecus blacki roamed forested areas of Southeast Asia. Its evolutionary relationship with other Great Ape species was unclear.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe protein sequences that Welker, Cappellini and their colleagues discovered suggested that the Gigantopithecus group was closely related to orangutans, with a common ancestor from around 10-12 million years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPerhaps most importantly, it showed that proteomes that are around 2 million years old can be retrieved from samples preserved in tropical conditions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis opened the possibility of extending biomolecular research in hominid and hominin evolution far beyond previous limits.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018After this \u2013 and this is part of the BACKWARD project \u2013 we said we should also look at material from Africa,\u2019 said Cappellini.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStay tuned\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELarge numbers of hominin fossils have been discovered around the world, with the Cradle of Humankind and the area around the Great Rift Valley in East Africa being particularly rich sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The analysis of this material is extremely challenging because the amount of protein we recover is extremely limited,\u2019 said Cappellini.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf palaeoproteomics can unlock the secrets of these ancient humans, a great deal more will be learned about their evolutionary relationships, spread from Africa across the globe and association with activities in the archaeological record such as fire making.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat in turn would almost certainly provide more key insights into humankind\u2019s own ancient history.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearch in this article was funded by the EU via the European Research Council (ERC). The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. 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