wolfi@cs.tu-berlin.de (Wolfgang Schwanke) writes:

>Yes, we can't research biochemistry in fossils, because they're dead
>and the molecules have all been destroyed. It'd be nice if someone found

Not completely true. No I don't mean Jurasic Park. Proteins tend to survive
longer than DNA and antibodies are used to screen for matches in fossils.
There remains some inference in the technique, and as always, some
technical expertise, but you can do immunochemistry to probe fossile
biochemistry. Even better, some folks have tried to directly sequence
proteins from fossils.

--Wade
<<<< ref >>>>>
    Ulrich MM; Perizonius WR; Spoor CF; Sandberg P; Vermeer C.
      Extraction of osteocalcin from fossil bones and teeth.
    Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1987 Dec 16,
    149(2):712-9.
 
Abstract: Osteocalcin (also called 'bone Gla-protein') was detected in fossil
    bovid bones ranging from 12,000 years to 13 million years old and in rodent
    teeth 30 million years old. Both the antigenic activity and the
    protein-bound Gla-residues have remained intact. The protein is
    indistinguishable from recent bovine osteocalcin when analyzed by HPLC
    using ion exchange and size exclusion columns. If sufficient amounts can be
    extracted and an adequate purification procedure is established, this would
    be the first time that amino acid sequences in a protein from fossil bones
    may be determined. Such sequence data could offer a new approach to the
    phylogenetic study of extinct taxa.
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