Collagen from T. Rex

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Researchers have extracted collagen protein from a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex femur, which two years ago was revealed to have soft tissue. Chemical analysis of the protein yielded seven sequences of about 10 to 20 amino acids in length. Three sequences matched collagen peptide scripts from chickens, one matched a frog and another a salamander; the other two matched multiple organisms, including chickens and salamanders. The results strengthen the bird-dinosaur connection and jettison the belief that ancient fossils could not provide protein samples for study (sorry, Jurassic Park fans—any genetic material degraded long ago). The findings and the techniques used to uncover them should clarify the relations between extinct species and modern-day animals and reveal more about “patterns of molecular change and the rates and directions of molecular evolution,” says Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University, who reports the work with her colleagues in the April 13 Science.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American