How Dinosaur Blood Vessels Preserve Through the Ages
02/14/2020
A team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Stout used infrared and X-ray imaging and spectromicroscopy to demonstrate how soft tissue structures may be preserved in dinosaur bones. Performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) Advanced Light Source (ALS), the research countered scientific dogma that protein-based body parts cannot survive more than 1 million years. Samples from a 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex tibia provided evidence that vertebrate collagen and elastin structures (from blood vessels) may persist across geologic time through two natural processes called Fenton chemistry and glycation.
Related Links
- BER Resource: Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology Imaging Program
- News: Berkeley Lab Helps Reveal How Dinosaur Blood Vessels Can Preserve Through the Ages
References
Boatman, E. M., et al. 2019. “Mechanisms of Soft Tissue and Protein Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex,” Scientific Reports 9, 15678. [DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-51680-1]