摘要
东亚古人类演化是学术界关注的热点科学问题,国内外学者对此进行了多学科的相关研究,取得了很多重要进展,但仍然存在许多尚未解决的问题。古蛋白质分析近年来成为古生物演化领域的又一个前沿和热点方向,取得了一系列重要突破。较之古DNA,古蛋白质的保存优势使其可以在时间上和地域上突破古DNA的限制,在古人类演化领域大有可为。东亚古人类化石丰富且时段大致连续,但更新世或更早时期的分子证据非常缺乏。本文从古蛋白质分析的发展史、研究潜力、难点与挑战以及思考与展望等几方面,对古蛋白质分析在东亚古人类演化研究中的应用前景进行梳理与思考。相信随着更多分子证据的积累,古蛋白质分析可为东亚古人类的演化脉络提供更多关键性的线索,极大地促进人类演化研究。
The evolutionary history of East Asian populations has involved several multidisciplinary approaches, but this research will bring in a different type of analysis, that of paleoproteomy(proteome [or protein?] analysis). Compared with ancient DNA, ancient proteins preserve in(sub)tropical areas, thus offering significant potential in tracking human evolutionary history. Abundant human fossils have been discovered in East Asia, including Homo erectus,archaic Homo sapiens, early modern humans and late Homo sapiens, which generally form a continuous sequence. However, molecular evidence from the Pleistocene or earlier are scarce. In order to promote the application of paleoproteomic analysis to East Asia, this paper reviews its history, potential, challenges and future prospects. Key highlights are listed below. 1) Although ancient protein analysis goes back to 1954, its development was quite slow until the advent of soft-ionization mass spectrometry in 2000. Advances in high-resolution and high-throughput instrumentation now allows researchers to study ancient proteomes;a study that has been well employed in archaeological and evolutionary research. 2) Enamel, dentine and bone are three main substrates for protein preservation in human fossils, with enamel possessing the highest potential for deep time. The earliest enamel proteome sequences were retrieved from a 1.9 MaBP Gigantopithecus molar from South China, with a thermal age of 11.8 MaBP at 10°C. 3) Different taxonomic groups and protein types have diverse amino acid substitution rates. Based on current research, there are certain mutation positions along the main proteins of bones and teeth from human fossils that could help construct human evolutionary history in broader space and deeper time. 4) Paleoproteomic analysis faces the challenges of low endogenous protein content in fossil samples and a lack of full reference database. 5) Further methodological exploration should focus on three aspects, i.e., optimization of extraction methods, automatic species identification of ZooMS spectra and in-depth interpretation of mass spectrometry data. With an accumulation of more molecular evidence, especially from earlier human fossils which are out of reach for ancient DNA, paleoproteomic analysis could provide more clues in helping to draw a more accurate and clear phylogenetic tree on human evolutionary history in East Asia.
作者
饶慧芸
RAO Huiyun(Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100044;CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment,Beijing 100044)
出处
《人类学学报》
CSSCI
CSCD
北大核心
2022年第6期1083-1096,共14页
Acta Anthropologica Sinica
基金
国家重点研发计划(2022YFF0903800)
中国科学院B类战略性先导科技专项(XDB26000000)
中国科学院稳定支持基础研究领域青年团队计划(YSBR-019)
中国科学院青年创新促进会项目(2020076)
教育部人文社会科学研究一般项目(17YJAZH107)。
关键词
生物人类学
系统发育
古蛋白质组学
质谱
东亚
biological anthropology
phylogeny
palaeoproteomics
mass spectrometry
East Asia
