Developing rapid and low-cost mass spectrometry-based identification of biological sex in fossils

对考古和古生物背景下保存的蛋白质的分析(古生物蛋白质组学)是考古科学中一个令人兴奋的新领域，为研究已灭绝物种的系统发育、人类和动物的饮食以及健康和疾病的模式提供了开创性的新视角。尤其值得一提的是，发现了超越古代DNA存活的生物性别的蛋白质证据，这改变了游戏规则。保存在釉质中的人类中的蛋白质釉原蛋白以x-或y-异构体(来自位于x和y染色体上的基因)的形式出现，使得能够在化石牙齿中鉴定生物性别，因此在研究基于性别的种群模式方面具有巨大的潜力。本博士将通过使这项技术大众化来推进这一令人兴奋的考古科学途径。该项目将探索一种低成本、高通量的基于质谱学的方法，用于基于蛋白质的生物性别鉴定，并将该方法扩展到包括非人类类群。这种快速和低成本的方法将对未来对考古记录中过去的动物管理和驯化以及基于性别的模式的理解产生重大影响。

The analysis of proteins preserved in archaeological and paleontological contexts (termedpalaeoproteomics) is an exciting new area in archaeological science, generating ground-breaking newinsights into the phylogenies of extinct species, human and animal diets, as well as patterns of healthand disease. In particular, a game-changer has been the discovery of protein evidence for biological sexbeyond the survival of ancient DNA. Preserving in enamel, the protein amelogenin in humans occurs asan x- or y-isoform (from genes located on the x and y chromosome), enabling the identification ofbiological sex in fossil teeth, and therefore has vast potential for examining sex-based populationpatterns.This PhD will advance this exciting avenue of archaeological science by democratizing this technique.The project will exploring a low-cost, high-throughput mass spectrometry-based approach for theprotein-based identification of biological sex and expand this approach to include non-human taxa. Thisrapid and low-cost approach will have substantial implications for future understandings of past animalmanagement and domestication and sex-based patterns in the archaeological record.