ArticlePloS one2016
Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Medulla-free barb rami highlight the morphological diversity of early feathers.Zoological research · 2025Article
- The feather's multi-functional structure across nano to macro scales inspires hierarchical design.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Review
- Taphonomic variation in vascular remains from Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Preservation of proteins in the geosphere.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Review
- Environmental Factors Affecting Feather Taphonomy.Biology · 2022Article
- Combining elemental and immunochemical analyses to characterize diagenetic alteration patterns in ancient skeletal remains.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The diet of early birds based on modern and fossil evidence and a new framework for its reconstruction.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2021Review
- Article
- Molecular tests support the viability of rare earth elements as proxies for fossil biomolecule preservation.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Variations of Mesozoic feathers: Insights from the morphogenesis of extant feather rachises.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2020Article
- Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers.Palaeontology · 2020Article
- Ancient amino acids from fossil feathers in amber.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Stable isotopic characterization of a coastal floodplain forest community: a case study for isotopic reconstruction of Mesozoic vertebrate assemblages.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- Article
- Article
- Preservation potential of keratin in deep time.PloS one · 2018Article
- Biochemistry and adaptive colouration of an exceptionally preserved juvenile fossil sea turtle.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Molecular evidence of keratin and melanosomes in feathers of the Early Cretaceous bird Eoconfuciusornis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2016Article
- Microscopic and immunohistochemical analyses of the claw of the nesting dinosaur, Citipati osmolskae.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Keratinous 'soft tissue' structures (i.e. epidermally derived and originally non-biomineralized), include feathers, skin, claws, beaks, and hair. Despite their relatively common occurrence in the fossil record (second only to bone and teeth), few studies have addressed natural degradation processes that must occur in all organic material, including those keratinous structures that are incorporated into the rock record as fossils. Because feathers have high preservation potential and strong phylogenetic signal, in the current study we examine feathers subjected to different burial environments for a duration of ~10 years, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and in situ immunofluorescence (IF). We use morphology and persistence of specific immunoreactivity as indicators of preservation at the molecular and microstructural levels. We show that feather keratin is durable, demonstrates structural and microstructural integrity, and retains epitopes suitable for specific antibody recognition in even the harshest conditions. These data support the hypothesis that keratin antibody reactivity can be used to identify the nature and composition of epidermal structures in the rock record, and to address evolutionary questions by distinguishing between alpha- (widely distributed) and beta- (limited to sauropsids) keratin.
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