• DOI:10.1038/s41586-020-2153-8
• Corpus ID: 214736611

The dental proteome of Homo antecessor

@article{Welker2020TheDP,
  title={The dental proteome of Homo antecessor},
  author={Frido Welker and Jazm{\'i}n Ramos-Madrigal and Petra Gutenbrunner and Meaghan Mackie and Shivani Tiwary and Rosa Rakownikow Jersie-Christensen and Cristina Chiva and Marc R. Dickinson and Martin Kuhlwilm and Marc de Manuel and Pere Gelabert and Mar{\'i}a Martin{\'o}n‐Torres and Ann Margvelashvili and Juan Luis Arsuaga and Eudald Carbonell and Tom{\`a}s Marqu{\`e}s-Bonet and Kirsty Penkman and Eduard Sabid{\'o} and J{\"u}rgen Cox and Jesper Velgaard Olsen and David Lordkipanidze and Fernando Racimo and Carles Lalueza-Fox and Jos{\'e} Mar{\'i}a Berm{\'u}dez de Castro and Eske Willerslev and Enrico Cappellini},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2020},
  volume={580},
  pages={235 - 238}
}

• F. Welker, Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal, +23 authors E. Cappellini
• Published 1 April 2020
• Biology, Geography
• Nature

The phylogenetic relationships between hominins of the Early Pleistocene epoch in Eurasia, such as Homo antecessor, and hominins that appear later in the fossil record during the Middle Pleistocene epoch, such as Homo sapiens, are highly debated1–5. For the oldest remains, the molecular study of these relationships is hindered by the degradation of ancient DNA. However, recent research has demonstrated that the analysis of ancient proteins can address this challenge6–8. Here we present the dental enamel proteomes of H. antecessor from Atapuerca (Spain)9,10 and Homo erectus from Dmanisi (Georgia)1, two key fossil assemblages that have a central role in models of Pleistocene hominin morphology, dispersal and divergence. We provide evidence that H. antecessor is a close sister lineage to subsequent Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins, including modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans. This placement implies that the modern-like face of H. antecessor—that is, similar to that of modern humans—may have a considerably deep ancestry in the genus Homo, and that the cranial morphology of Neanderthals represents a derived form. By recovering AMELY-specific peptide sequences, we also conclude that the H. antecessor molar fragment from Atapuerca that we analysed belonged to a male individual. Finally, these H. antecessor and H. erectus fossils preserve evidence of enamel proteome phosphorylation and proteolytic digestion that occurred in vivo during tooth formation. Our results provide important insights into the evolutionary relationships between H. antecessor and other hominin groups, and pave the way for future studies using enamel proteomes to investigate hominin biology across the existence of the genus Homo. Analyses of the proteomes of dental enamel from Homo antecessor and Homo erectus demonstrate that the Early Pleistocene H. antecessor is a close sister lineage of later Homo sapiens, Neanderthal and Denisovan populations in Eurasia.