Protein sequencing solves Darwinian mystery of 'strange' South American mammals and demonstrates consumption of dairy products by human populations for at least 5,000 years
7 April 2015
Published in the journal Nature, the findings are based on fossil protein sequences, which allow researchers to peek back in time up to 10 times farther than they can with DNA. The scientists used proteomic analysis to screen 48 fossils of Toxodon platensis and Macrauchenia patachonica, the very species whose remains Darwin discovered 180 years ago in Uruguay and Argentina. Dr. Roman Fischer and Prof. Benedikt Kessler from the TDI participated in this study.