Reanalysis of tyrannosaurus rex mass spectra

Asara et al. reported the detection of collagen peptides in a 68-million-year-old T. rex bone by shotgun proteomics. This finding has been called into question as a possible statistical artifact. We reanalyze Asara et al.s tandem mass spectra using a different search engine and different statistical tools. Our reanalysis shows a sample containing common laboratory contaminants, soil bacteria, and bird-like hemoglobin and collagen.

Citation

Bern, M. W.; Phinney, B. S.; Goldberg, D. Reanalysis of tyrannosaurus rex mass spectra. Journal of Proteome Research. 2009 September; 8 (9): 4328-4332.