Palaeontology

Pregnant Tyrannosaurus rex could contain DNA

By T.K. Randall
March 16, 2016 ·  22 comments

Can T. rex DNA be retrieved from fossil medullary bone ? Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.5 Emoke Denes The 68-million-year-old remains, which were unearthed at an excavation site in Montana, contain fragments of medullary bone - something typically found in birds just before and after egg laying.

The discovery not only shows that this particular dinosaur was female and pregnant, but could offer scientists their first ever opportunity to obtain traces of preserved Tyrannosaurus rex DNA.

"Yes, it's possible," said Lindsay Zanno of North Carolina State University. "We have some evidence that fragments of DNA may be preserved in dinosaur fossils, but this remains to be tested further."

Finding medullary bone in the fossil remains of a dinosaur is itself a rare occurrence because it is present for such a short period of time. Only a few other examples have ever been identified."We were lucky to find these female fossils," said Sarah Werning, a paleontologist whose team had previously found medullary bone in the remains of an Allosaurus and a Tenontosaurus.

"Medullary bone is only around for three to four weeks in females who are reproductively mature, so you'd have to cut up a lot of dinosaur bones to have a good chance of finding this."

While it is unlikely that we will be seeing a real-life version of Jurassic Park anytime soon, there's a slim chance that the Montana T. rex might turn out to be the Holy Grail of dinosaur finds.

If the team does find traces of DNA it will be one of the most important discoveries in paleontology.

Source: Discovery News | Comments (22)

Tags: Tyrannosaurus, Dinosaur, DNA