Palaeoproteomic analyses of dog palaeofaeces reveal a preserved dietary and host digestive proteome
Runge, Anne Kathrine (University of York. Department of Archaeology)
Hendy, Jessica (University of York. Department of Archaeology)
Korzow Richter, Kristine (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Department of Anthropology)
Masson-MacLean, Edouard (University of Aberdeen. Department of Archaeology)
Britton, Kate (University of Aberdeen. Department of Archaeology)
Mackie, Meaghan (University of Copenhagen. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research)
McGrath, Krista Michelle (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Collins, Matthew (University of Cambridge. Department of Archaeology)
Cappellini, Enrico (University of Copenhagen. Section for Evolutionary Genomics)
Speller, Camilla (University of British. Department of Anthropology)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria

Date:	2021
Abstract:	The domestic dog has inhabited the anthropogenic niche for at least 15 000 years, but despite their impact on human strategies, the lives of dogs and their interactions with humans have only recently become a subject of interest to archaeologists. In the Arctic, dogs rely exclusively on humans for food during the winter, and while stable isotope analyses have revealed dietary similarities at some sites, deciphering the details of provisioning strategies have been challenging. In this study, we apply zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to dog palaeofaeces to investigate protein preservation in this highly degradable material and obtain information about the diet of domestic dogs at the Nunalleq site, Alaska. We identify a suite of digestive and metabolic proteins from the host species, demonstrating the utility of this material as a novel and viable substrate for the recovery of gastrointestinal proteomes. The recovered proteins revealed that the Nunalleq dogs consumed a range of Pacific salmon species (coho, chum, chinook and sockeye) and that the consumed tissues derived from muscle and bone tissues as well as roe and guts. Overall, the study demonstrated the viability of permafrost-preserved palaeofaeces as a unique source of host and dietary proteomes.
Grants:	European Commission 676154
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Dogs ; Palaeofaeces ; Palaeoproteomics ; Zooms ; Nunalleq Alaska ; Archaeology
Published in:	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 288, Issue 1954 (July 2021) , art. 20210020, ISSN 1471-2954

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0020
PMID: 34229485

10 p, 712.7 KB

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