Objective This project aims to reconstruct the genetic relationships between our and extinct hominin species from sites and time periods incompatible with ancient DNA preservation through mass-spectrometry based sequencing of ancient hominin proteins. Understanding the evolutionary relationships between extinct and extant hominins is a major goal of palaeoanthropology, including insights into population dynamics and traits selected for/against in particular hominin lineages. Up to recently this was exclusively achieved through ancient DNA analysis. Ancient DNA survives for a limited amount of time, however, and is commonly degraded entirely after 0.5 or 1.0 Ma. A new biomolecular approach to this issue is the analysis of ancient proteins preserved in enamel, dentine and bone from hominin fossils, as recent studies demonstrate that ancient proteins survive for longer stretches of time than DNA. HOPE will advance these developments by applying novel methodological approaches to the extraction and characterization of hominin ancient proteins in samples beyond the survival of ancient DNA. Specific objectives are 1) to test proposed evolutionary hypotheses on hominin evolution through the characterization of ancient enamel protein sequences from a number of extinct hominin populations of significant age, 2) to increase non-collagenous protein sequence recovery from dentine samples, 3) to explore the population proteomic potential of hominin proteomes, and 4) to understand changes in enamel proteome composition throughout hominid evolution. These objectives will be realized by analysing hominin specimens from a range of taxonomic clades present in the Early, Middle and Late Pleistocene of Africa and Eurasia. HOPE thereby provides novel interdisciplinary insights into human evolution and methodological tools of use across palaeonthropology and evolutionary biology. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomicsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biologysocial sciencessociologyanthropologyphysical anthropology Keywords Ancient proteins Human evolution Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2017 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2017 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET Net EU contribution € 200 194,80 Address NORREGADE 10 1165 Kobenhavn Denmark See on map Region Danmark Hovedstaden Byen København Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 200 194,80