Fierce Chickens...
So it turns out that our docile barnyard friends, the chickens, have quite a fearsome ancestor: T-rex. Asara et al. used mass spec to determine the amino acid sequence of collagen extracted from 68-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex bone. The determined sequence closely resembled that obtained from chickens. Of course most popular current hypothesis for the origin of birds is that they are the descendants of dinosaurs, but most of the evidence comes from anatomical structure. This is the first evidence to come from actual molecular data. Actually the most surprising thing about this study is that collagen survived 68 million years.
It doesn't quite mean the onset of Jurassic Park quite yet, but as my friend Thad said, "Barbecued or fried T-Rex sounds good!!"
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Does this give as any hope for a more colorful Late Cretaceous where T-Rex were covered with bright yellow down like baby chicks?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Joke aside, you make a great point.
ReplyDeleteWho is to say that T-rex did not sport a red-comb and resemble a giant rooster, sans feathers? I presume this type of soft tissue would not show up in most fossils, but perhaps more palentologically orientated folks may know better than I.
This is the first evidence to come from actual molecular data.
ReplyDeleteWell... we do have molecular phylogenies in which birds are nested within the reptiles. That suggests birds are close relatives of some form of reptile, although it doesn't nest them within the dinosaurs because we don't have dino sequences.
And the dinogenomics paper from Scott Edwards' lab is sort-of molecular evidence supporting the dino-bird link.
I stand corrected. And much to my chagrin because Scott will be a future co-author on a paper of mine.
ReplyDeleteIt would be more accurate to say, this is the first molecular evidence obtained from a dinosaur for the dino-bird link. At least to my knowledge.
¿El pollo es del T. Rex?
ReplyDeleteRawr.
So it turns out that our docile barnyard friends, the chickens, have quite a fearsome ancestor: T-rex.
ReplyDeleteT-rex wasn't the ancestor of chickens. Chickens and T-rex share a common ancestor.
Jon-it is so good to hear from you. Your blog is so wonderful! Will you be attending any meetings this summer?
ReplyDeleteJohn-it is so good to hear from you. Your blog is so wonderful! Will you be attending any meetings this summer?
ReplyDelete" as my friend Thad said, "Barbecued or fried T-Rex sounds good!!" "
ReplyDeleteYou catch it, I'll cook it.