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Researchers Uncover Fossilized Red Blood Cells in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones
· 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 discovered fossilized red blood cells, hemoglobin-derived biomolecules, and amino acids from collagen protein inside the bones of a dinosaur that lived approximately 115 million years ago in Brazil.
The dinosaur, known as Aratasaurus museunacionali, was a small, meat-eating theropod estimated to be about four years old, weighing about 34 kilograms, and measuring 3.1 meters from head to tail.
The findings were published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where researchers identified heme-derived molecules associated with mineralized structures interpreted as red blood cells.
Lead researcher Kliti Grice, from Curtin University in Australia, said, “This really is a landmark discovery. 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.”
The researchers believe this exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried after death in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms.
Analyses revealed large numbers of preserved red blood cells within the bones' vascular canals, with one slide containing 20 blood cells.
The cells were about 15 microns in size, and the bone was almost 80 percent heme, a molecule in hemoglobin, the protein red blood cells use to carry oxygen.
Grice explained, “We haven’t recovered dinosaur DNA, but we have recovered something remarkable: a molecular fingerprint of blood from an animal that lived 115 million years ago. This shows that fossils can preserve a chemical memory of the living animal.”
Some experts remain cautious, noting that the identification of red blood cells still involves interpretation and that more evidence is needed.
The study adds to research about the preservation of dinosaur soft tissues, something once thought impossible over time periods of millions of years.
There are hopes among researchers that more museums will offer up fossils to aid this kind of research into the future.
What this adds
The research team utilized chemical analysis to definitively prove the presence of intact heme, the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin, unlike previous studies that only identified structures visually resembling red blood cells.
The dinosaur's remains were discovered inside the limb bones of Aratasaurus museunacionali, whose fossils were found in northwestern Brazil.
The discovery of heme-derived molecules within red blood cells of such extraordinary age is a significant milestone in paleontology, providing confirmed chemical evidence of fossilized blood remnants.
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.
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
- 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.
- The cells she found were abundant: in a single slide, just a fifth of a millimetre wide, there were 20 blood cells.
- The fossils suggest a dinosaur measuring over 10 feet long and weighing about 75 pounds, but given its young age, A. museunacionali likely grew even larger.
- Image credit: Grice et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2614248123.
- Red blood cells have previously been found in dinosaur remains, including 75-million-year-old bone fragments collected in Canada in 2015 and the femur of a Tyrannosaurus rex that died 68 million years ago, found in Montana in 2005.
- "Still, that is quite remarkable considering the age of the fossil."
- 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.
- Key Distinction/Mechanism : Unlike previous studies that only identified structures visually resembling red blood cells, this research utilized chemical analysis to definitively prove the presence of intact heme, the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin.