Description du projet
L’analyse par spectrométrie de masse dans la recherche sur l’évolution des Hominini
De récentes découvertes ont permis de dresser un nouveau tableau des relations évolutives complexes entre les Néandertaliens, les Denisoviens et les humains modernes. Outre l’Homo erectus et l’Homo antecessor, les populations d’Hominini du Pléistocène comprennent désormais les Denisovans, l’Homo floresiensis, l’Homo luzonensis, l’Homo naledi et, peut‑être, l’Homo heidelbergensis. La paléoprotéomique est l’application de la spectrométrie de masse à l’étude des protéomes anciens. Elle est récemment apparue comme une approche biomoléculaire alternative à la recherche sur l’ADN ancien pour fournir des preuves moléculaires sur les relations évolutives des Hominini. Le projet PROSPER, financé par l’UE, développera de nouveaux protocoles d’échantillonnage et d’extraction pour les protéomes des squelettes anciens, réduisant au minimum l’échantillonnage destructeur de fossiles d’Hominini uniques, ouvrant ainsi de nouvelles voies de recherche en paléoanthropologie.
Objectif
A new picture of our own ancestral past has emerged through the elucidation of the complex evolutionary relationships between Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans. How preceding hominin populations fit into their story is currently unknown, but it has become clear that Pleistocene hominin populations were highly diverse. In addition to Homo erectus and Homo antecessor, they also include recently described populations such as the Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis, and Homo naledi, and previously known but elusive populations such as Homo heidelbergensis. These hominins were present across Africa and Eurasia, with large portions of the hominin fossil record far beyond the reach of ancient DNA research. It is therefore difficult to understand the distribution in time and space of these hominin populations, and elucidate their relation to the emergence of novel hominin behaviours evident in the archaeological record, using traditional approaches. Palaeoproteomic analysis of skeletal proteomes has recently emerged as a potential alternative biomolecular approach across the Pleistocene, and can provide independent molecular evidence on hominin evolutionary relationships on a global scale. PROSPER will make this opportunity a reality by developing novel sampling and extraction protocols for ancient skeletal proteomes, thereby minimizing the destructive sampling of highly unique, often fragmentary, hominin fossils, while simultaneously maximizing the proteomic data generated. With these methods available, PROSPER will generate unique insights into the evolutionary relationships between Pleistocene hominins across their African and Eurasian distribution, including the emergence and dispersal of our own species, Homo sapiens. PROSPER will be able to settle phylogenetic debates on hominin population relationships in a unique, novel manner, and can be expected to open up new avenues of research in palaeoanthropology.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
1165 Kobenhavn
Danemark