EXTRACTION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF INTRACRYSTALLINE AMINO-ACIDS FROM FOSSILS

A new protocol for the extraction and analysis of intracrystalline mac romolecules has been developed that allows the rapid determination of the amino-acid composition of fossils. The technique utilizes decalcif ication with 2 M HCl, characterization of the soluble fraction of the biomolecules by automated amino-acid analysis, and differentiation usi ng multivariate statistics. Compared to other methods, this technique allows sampling of indigenous degraded proteins in addition to the pre served remains of peptides, leading to the recovery of data from more reliable indigenous sources. Although the extraction method is demonst rated using fossil samples to demonstrate gross phylogenetic differenc es, there is much potential to use these biomolecules for a wide range of applications.