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Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment

Keratinous ‘soft tissue’ structures (i.e. epidermally derived and originally non-biomineralized), include feathers, skin, claws, beaks, and hair. Despite their relatively common occurrence in the fossil record (second only to bone and teeth), few studies have addressed natural degradation processes...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Moyer, Alison E., Zheng, Wenxia, Schweitzer, Mary H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4934732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27384819
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157699
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author Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
Schweitzer, Mary H.
author_facet Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
Schweitzer, Mary H.
author_sort Moyer, Alison E.
collection PubMed
description Keratinous ‘soft tissue’ structures (i.e. epidermally derived and originally non-biomineralized), include feathers, skin, claws, beaks, and hair. Despite their relatively common occurrence in the fossil record (second only to bone and teeth), few studies have addressed natural degradation processes that must occur in all organic material, including those keratinous structures that are incorporated into the rock record as fossils. Because feathers have high preservation potential and strong phylogenetic signal, in the current study we examine feathers subjected to different burial environments for a duration of ~10 years, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and in situ immunofluorescence (IF). We use morphology and persistence of specific immunoreactivity as indicators of preservation at the molecular and microstructural levels. We show that feather keratin is durable, demonstrates structural and microstructural integrity, and retains epitopes suitable for specific antibody recognition in even the harshest conditions. These data support the hypothesis that keratin antibody reactivity can be used to identify the nature and composition of epidermal structures in the rock record, and to address evolutionary questions by distinguishing between alpha- (widely distributed) and beta- (limited to sauropsids) keratin.
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spelling pubmed-49347322016-07-18 Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment Moyer, Alison E. Zheng, Wenxia Schweitzer, Mary H. PLoS One Research Article Keratinous ‘soft tissue’ structures (i.e. epidermally derived and originally non-biomineralized), include feathers, skin, claws, beaks, and hair. Despite their relatively common occurrence in the fossil record (second only to bone and teeth), few studies have addressed natural degradation processes that must occur in all organic material, including those keratinous structures that are incorporated into the rock record as fossils. Because feathers have high preservation potential and strong phylogenetic signal, in the current study we examine feathers subjected to different burial environments for a duration of ~10 years, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and in situ immunofluorescence (IF). We use morphology and persistence of specific immunoreactivity as indicators of preservation at the molecular and microstructural levels. We show that feather keratin is durable, demonstrates structural and microstructural integrity, and retains epitopes suitable for specific antibody recognition in even the harshest conditions. These data support the hypothesis that keratin antibody reactivity can be used to identify the nature and composition of epidermal structures in the rock record, and to address evolutionary questions by distinguishing between alpha- (widely distributed) and beta- (limited to sauropsids) keratin. Public Library of Science 2016-07-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4934732/ /pubmed/27384819 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157699 Text en © 2016 Moyer et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Moyer, Alison E.
Zheng, Wenxia
Schweitzer, Mary H.
Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title_full Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title_fullStr Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title_full_unstemmed Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title_short Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment
title_sort keratin durability has implications for the fossil record: results from a 10 year feather degradation experiment
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4934732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27384819
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157699
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