GeologyRocks

A story 2 years ago reported that a fossil T-Rex femur had been found with preserved soft tissue. Those tissues have now been analysed and protein extracted. Lo-and-behold, the protein is similar to that of chickens! This is further confirmation that birds are closely related to some dinosaur species.

"It has always been assumed that preservation of [dinosaur bones] does not extend to the cellular and molecular level," said co-author Mary Schweitzer, from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, US.

"The pathways of cellular decay are well known for modern organisms. And extrapolations predict that all organics are going to be gone completely in 100,000 years, maximum."

Brooks Hanson, an editor at Science journal said: "The goal of obtaining sequences either from proteins or DNA for extinct [organisms] has been a long-standing goal to test evolutionary links and processes, or even functional information."

The work builds on an earlier discovery of soft tissue - including blood vessels - by Dr Schweitzer's team in the same, incredibly well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossils.

Links:

Nature:
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070409/full/070409-11.html
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6548719.stm
The original BBC story about the soft tissue preservation:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4379577.stm

The Science article (subscription required):
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/316/5822/277