Over 100 frozen original mammoth proteins found

Researchers were able to find 126 unique proteins from a frozen wooly mammoth in the first ever "shotgun sequence" of fossil protein content.

The same team confirmed similar but fewer proteins in a Columbian mammoth fossil found in a temperate, not permafrost, climate. They said that the frozen wooly mammoth was 43,000 years old, but this is impossible to reconcile with the integrity and array of the discovered proteins.

A small international team analyzed the mammoth bones and published their findings in the Journal of Proteome Research. They used "the world's fastest and most sensitive ion trap mass spectrometer," according to the product's website. Older versions of similar technology could only detect large amounts of proteins, but this new machine is able to accurately identify small amounts...

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