G. Manzi

Unexpectedly rapid evolution of mandibular shape in hominins

Members of the hominins – namely the so-called ‘australopiths’ and the species of the genus Homo – are known to possess short and deep mandibles and relatively small incisors and canines. It is commonly assumed that this suite of traits evolved in early members of the clade in response to changing environmental conditions and increased consumption of though food items. With the emergence of Homo, the functional meaning of mandible shape variation is thought to have been weakened by technological advancements and (later) by the control over fire. In contrast to this expectation, we found that mandible shape evolution in hominins is exceptionally rapid as compared to any other primate clade, and that the direction and rate of shape change (from the ape ancestor) are no different between the australopiths and Homo. We deem several factors including the loss of honing complex, canine reduction, and the acquisition of different diets may have concurred in producing such surprisingly high evolutionary rates. This study reveals the evolution of mandibular shape in hominins has strong morpho-functional and ecological significance attached.

Evidence of milk consumption in Northern and Southern Middle Bronze Age Italy through a metaproteomic analysis of human dental calculus

• Detecting any difference in the animal species raised Shotgun metaproteomics consists of the proteolytic digestion of proteins belonging to a mixture extremely increased in complexity. We applied a GASP (Gel-Aided Sample Preparation) protocol, modified for ancient mineralized samples [7]. Extractions were performed at BioArCh, Department of Archaeology at the University of York. Extracted peptides were analysed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (QExactive) at the Mass Spectrometry laboratory of the Target Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford. Spectra were searched using Mascot (Matrix ScienceTM) against Uniprot database. Dental calculus is used as a powerful tool in bioarchaeology to detect direct evidence of the health status, the diet and possibly the occupation of an individual and/or of a population[4][5][6]. We performed a shotgun metaproteomic analysis of 9 samples of dental calculus; 6 samples from Bovolone, and 3 from Sant’Abbondio. Only supragingival calculus has been sampled, predominately from premolars and molars, and collected in 2.0 mL tubes. We used between 1.9 and 26.7 mg of dental calculus for protein extraction.