proteins

Ancient tooth enamel from China has opened a rare molecular window onto one of the murkiest chapters in human evolution. A new Nature study reports that proteins preserved in 400,000-year-old Homo erectus teeth carry a signal also seen in Denisovans, raising the possibility that these two ancient human relatives once met and mixed in East Asia. Protein Clues from Ancient Teeth The research team, led by Qiaomei Fu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, analysed enamel proteins from six Middle Pleistocene Homo erectus individuals from Zhoukoudian, Hexian, and Sunjiadong in China. As The Independent noted in its report on the find, the sampled teeth belonged to five males and one female, giving researchers a rare biological