Ancient T. Rex Genes Decoded

Researchers have decoded genetic material from a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex, an unprecedented step once thought impossible.

"The door just opens up to a whole avenue of research that involves anything extinct," said Matthew T. Carrano, curator of dinosaurs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

And, the new finding adds weight to the idea that today's birds are descendants of dinosaurs.

While dinosaur bones have long been studied, "it's always been assumed that preservation does not extend to the cellular or molecular level," said Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University.

It had been thought that some proteins could last a million years or more, but not to the age of the dinosaurs, she said.

So, when she was able to recover soft tissue from a T. rex bone found in Montana in 2003 she was surprised, Schweitzer said.

And now, researchers led by John M. Asara of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston have been able to analyze proteins from that bone.

What Asara's team found was collagen, a type of fibrous connective tissue that is a major component of bone. And the closest match in creatures alive today was collagen from chicken bones.

Schweitzer and Asara report their findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

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Uhhm I saw the other T Rex thread going but this one has a no Photoshop policy.... ok a no bad photoshopped pic policy lol.

Oooh, interesting! Thanks for posting this.



Sorry, I don't follow you here. You aren't suggesting the newspaper's photograph of Mr. Horner and the T-Rex was altered in some way?

Besides, I haven't got Photoshop, I only have MS Paint.

Doesn't mean someone else didn't photoshop that image.
It's oh so clearly photoshopped.


As for this bit of news. Guess it's another bit of evidence to support evolution and that a few species of dinosaurs did indeed evolve into avians.

MS Paint huh? Well then it must be a real picture, MS Paint is not capable of such art!

Oh crap that means that T Rex is around here somewhere!! *pees pants a little*

They were decoded in boston,Close to my home town

Yeah, this is real interesting... "68 million years old" eh? Makes one wonder just what's going on here. That's a long time for organic matter to survive, regardless of the manner in which it was supposedly preserved. Not only do we have "living fossils" now we have fossils in which organic matter is being found. "68 million years old" indeed!

SO, did Chickens used to be the giant T Rex, or did T rex used to be a chicken?