NAI
2013 Annual Science Report
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reporting | SEP 2012 – AUG 2013
Molecular Biosignatures: Fossil Record of Animal Biopolymers
Project Summary
We contributed to a study of the diagenetic products of the animal pigment eumelanin and learned how to recognize melanin-derived products in the fossil record.
Project Progress
As part of an ongoing investigation of metazoan macromolecules and their fossil record, we contributed to a study of the diagenesis of the animal pigment eumelanin. We contributed pyrolysis-GC-MS data to help show that the pigment melanin can be preserved on geological timescales and also that burial time and temperature lead to blurring of the signal.
In the course of this work we perfected in-house approaches to analyse other biopolymers including chitin by pyrolysis-GC-MS. Our longer term objective is to develop a library of spectra for the pyrolysis products of metazoan biopolymers and their diagenetic products.
Publications
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Glass, K., Ito, S., Wilby, P. R., Sota, T., Nakamura, A., Russell Bowers, C., … Simon, J. D. (2013). Impact of diagenesis and maturation on the survival of eumelanin in the fossil record. Organic Geochemistry, 64, 29–37. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2013.09.002
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PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
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PROJECT MEMBERS:
Derek Briggs
Project Investigator
Roger Summons
Co-Investigator
Keely Glass
Collaborator
Kristen Miller
Collaborator
John Simon
Collaborator
Philip Wilby
Collaborator
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RELATED OBJECTIVES:
Objective 4.1
Earth's early biosphere.
Objective 4.2
Production of complex life.
Objective 7.1
Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials