T. rex is a Big Chicken!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

T. rex is a Big Chicken!

Ashleigh Molloy
41770191

The Tyrannosaurus rex is arguably the most feared creature to have ever walked this earth. Thankfully, this terrifying dinosaur has been extinct for about 65 million years; however, one of its closest relatives is still terrorising our communities today… Beware of the dreaded chicken. Ok, so I lied, chickens aren’t scary, but, according to recent evidence, they are thought to be amongst T. rex’s closest living relatives.

Scientists have discussed this seemingly ridiculous theory for quite some time. However, supporting evidence has always been based purely on similarities in the skeletal structures of birds and dinosaurs… until now.

Protein found in a 68 million year old T. rex femur finally gave some real meat to this theory (no pun intended). A tiny amount of collagenous protein, comprising of only 5 peptides, provided the very first molecular evidence. Using these 89 amino acids, scientists may have finally placed T. rex in the animal kingdom’s family tree, right next to the modern-day chicken.

A team of scientists, headed by John Asara and Lewis Cantley, were able to determine the genetic sequences that encoded these ancient proteins using methods of comparative mass spectrometry. They compared these T. rex sequences to a database containing the genetic sequences for proteins that carry out the same functions in dozens of extant species. Surprisingly, they found that modern-day birds, such as the humble chicken, are indeed the closest living relatives of the ferocious T. rex.

You’ll never look at a chicken the same way again…

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