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Researchers Uncover Fossilized Dinosaur Blood Cells
· Confirmed
In Short: Researchers discovered what appear to be fossilized red blood cells and heme biomolecules in the bones of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur in Brazil.
An international research team has made a groundbreaking discovery by identifying what appear to be fossilized red blood cells and heme biomolecules in the bones of a dinosaur that lived approximately 115 million years ago in Brazil.
The findings, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were made by a team led by scientists at Curtin University in Australia. The dinosaur, known as Aratasaurus museunacionali, was a small, meat-eating theropod that lived during the Early Cretaceous period.
The researchers found the cells inside the limb bones of the dinosaur, which were recovered in northeastern Brazil. The cells were abundant, with 20 blood cells visible in a single slide just a fifth of a millimeter wide.
The discovery challenges long-standing scientific assumptions that biomolecules such as hemoglobin could not survive over extended geological timescales. The researchers believe the exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms.
The team used chemical analysis to definitively prove the presence of intact heme, the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin, within the cells. This is the first time researchers have been able to establish the presence of hemoglobin-derived chemical compounds inside these cells.
The dinosaur was estimated to be about four years old, weighing about 34 kilograms and measuring 3.1 meters from head to tail. The fossils suggest an animal measuring over 10 feet long and weighing about 75 pounds, but given its young age, A. Museunacionali likely grew even larger.
The researchers found that the bone was almost 80 percent heme, a molecule in hemoglobin, a protein red blood cells use to carry oxygen. This discovery provides a direct molecular window into the physiology of ancient animals.
The study adds to research about the preservation of dinosaur soft tissues, something once thought impossible over time periods of millions of years. The findings not only expand the fossil record of blood remnants but also provide a direct molecular window into the physiological characteristics of extinct animals.
Professor Kliti Grice, the study's lead author, explained, 'Our discovery shows that blood-derived molecules can survive for more than 110 million years under the right conditions.' The cells she found were about 15 microns in size, which is quite remarkable considering the age of the fossil.
The discovery of heme-related molecules and mineralized structures inside a Brazilian theropod bone survived 115 million years under rare burial conditions. This opens exciting new avenues for molecular-level paleontology, allowing researchers to investigate the evolution of blood, metabolism, and even activity levels in ancient animals.
The researchers described the identification of heme-derived molecules within red blood cells of such extraordinary age as a remarkable discovery and a significant milestone in paleontology. However, some experts were yet to be convinced that the ellipsoid shapes seen in the study were definitively blood cells.
The dinosaur's blood cells had been mineralized by hausmannite, a mineral that acted as a natural time capsule, helping stabilize cellular structures and biological components, including amino acids associated with collagen protein, and protecting them from degradation over millions of years.
What this adds
The study provides a new type of evidence for studying dinosaur physiology, allowing researchers to investigate the evolution of blood, metabolism, and even activity levels in ancient animals.
The researchers believe the exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms, which helped stabilize cellular structures and biological components.
Background
Researchers discovered what appear to be fossilized red blood cells and heme biomolecules in the bones of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur in Brazil.
A blood cell is a cell produced through hematopoiesis and found mainly in the blood. Major types of blood cells include red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), and platelets (thrombocytes).
What's confirmed
- Researchers believe this exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried after death in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms.
- Published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mineralised red blood cells and intact heme biomolecules were discovered in limb bones of a 115-million-year-old theropod dinosaur known as Aratasaurus museunacionali, recovered in northeastern Brazil.
- On rare occasions, researchers have even identified the ancient indentations of a dinosaur’s skin or feathers.
- A 115-million-year-old fossil dinosaur bone encased in a dense mat of microbes found in Brazil contains tiny structures resembling red blood cells, and molecular traces of blood.
- Our discovery shows that blood-derived molecules can survive for more than 110 million years under the right conditions.
- Scientists are testing whether they can fossilise human blood in microbial mats from Shark Bay, Western Australia.
- The dinosaur was estimated to be about four years old, 34 kilograms and 3.1 metres from head to tail.
- "It opens exciting new avenues for molecular-level palaeontology, allowing us to investigate the evolution of blood, metabolism and even activity levels in ancient animals."
- Heme is a molecule in haemoglobin, a protein red blood cells use to carry oxygen.
- The finding provides confirmed chemical evidence of fossilized blood remnants, unlike previous studies that identified structures resembling red blood cells in fossils but could not conclusively establish their chemical nature.
- The study explained that the red blood cells had been mineralized by hausmannite, a mineral that acted as a natural time capsule, helping stabilize cellular structures and biological components, including amino acids associated with collagen protein, and protecting them from degradation over millions of years.
- Researchers identified heme-derived molecules associated with mineralized structures interpreted as red blood cells in 115-million-year-old Aratasaurus bones. (CREDIT: The Brighter Side of News) Tiny structures inside a dinosaur's limb bones have retained chemical traces associated with blood for approximately 115 million years.
What's still developing
- “This really is a landmark discovery.” Read More: 66-Million-Year-Old Mineralized Blood Vessels Reveal How the Largest Known T.
- Ten years after the highly controversial discovery of soft tissue within a 68-million-year-old dinosaur bone, scientists have once again proved that we shouldn’t be so eager to dismiss exceptions to the rules, having detected what could well be red blood cells and bits of connective tissues in poorly-preserved dinosaur fossils.
- In 2019, researchers examining Centrosaurus bones found recent organic material and thriving microbial communities, illustrating how fossil bone can become a habitat with chemistry distinct from surrounding sediment.
- A nondescript 115-million-year-old fragment of leg bone has yielded spectacularly preserved red blood cells, which may be the earliest ever found in dinosaurs.
- Instead of merely quieting inflammation, researchers at Charité are testing whether CAR T-cell therapy can remove the B cells that help the disease return.
- “Any extraordinary claim needs extraordinary analytical evidence,” she said.
- Researchers have jubilantly reported uncovering the signature of biomaterials like collagen and haemoglobin before, though not without a great deal of debate.
- Analyses revealed large numbers of preserved red blood cells within the bones' vascular canals.
- Under the DARPA program, researchers are working to create plasma, platelets and red blood cells that stay stable on the shelf.
- A 2020 analysis in the journal Joule calculated that underwater photovoltaics could remain useful at depths approaching 50 meters in exceptionally clear water, provided researchers use wider-band-gap materials better matched to the altered spectrum.
- The researchers found that people with the inherited AnWj negative phenotype carried homozygous deletions affecting MAL.
- Resurrecting prehistoric creatures is slightly more complicated than adding frog DNA to some blood you found in a long-dead mosquito.