ArticleNature communications2018
Fossilization transforms vertebrate hard tissue proteins into N-heterocyclic polymers.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 129 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular Solution to the Paradox of Ancient Brain Preservation.Journal of proteome research · 2026Article
- Article
- Organic geochemical evidence for life in Archean rocks identified by pyrolysis-GC-MS and supervised machine learning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Comparing Protein Stability in Modern and Ancient Sabkha Environments: Implications for Molecular Remnants on Ancient Mars.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Fossilized dinosaur cells that defied the ravages of time - 20 years since a key discovery.Nature · 2025Article
- Taphonomic variation in vascular remains from Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Age is just a number: Examining the preservation of cells and soft tissues in Bothriolepis and other Devonian fish.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Nanoscopic imaging of ancient protein and vasculature offers insight into soft tissue and biomolecule fossilization.iScience · 2024Article
- A new non-destructive method to decipher the origin of organic matter in fossils using Raman spectroscopy.RSC advances · 2024Article
- Preservation of proteins in the geosphere.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Review
- Human brains preserve in diverse environments for at least 12 000 years.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Molecular fingerprints resolve affinities of Rhynie chert organic fossils.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Microbially mediated fossil concretions and their characterization by the latest methodologies: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Biomolecular histology as a novel proxy for ancient DNA and protein sequence preservation.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Raman Spectra and Ancient Life: Vibrational ID Profiles of Fossilized (Bone) Tissues.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- The diverse terminology of reptile eggshell microstructure and its effect on phylogenetic comparative analyses.Journal of anatomy · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vertebrate hard tissues consist of mineral crystallites within a proteinaceous scaffold that normally degrades post-mortem. Here we show, however, that decalcification of Mesozoic hard tissues preserved in oxidative settings releases brownish stained extracellular matrix, cells, blood vessels, and nerve projections. Raman Microspectroscopy shows that these fossil soft tissues are a product of diagenetic transformation to Advanced Glycoxidation and Lipoxidation End Products, a class of N-heterocyclic polymers generated via oxidative crosslinking of proteinaceous scaffolds. Hard tissues in reducing environments, in contrast, lack soft tissue preservation. Comparison of fossil soft tissues with modern and experimentally matured samples reveals how proteinaceous tissues undergo diagenesis and explains biases in their preservation in the rock record. This provides a target, focused on oxidative depositional environments, for finding cellular-to-subcellular soft tissue morphology in fossils and validates its use in phylogenetic and other evolutionary studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.