Paleoproteomic Analysis Reveals Sex of Australopithecus africanus Individual

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—According to a Live Science report, proteins collected from the tooth enamel of an Australopithecus africanus individual have been analyzed with a method known as paleoproteomics by an international team of researchers. “To my knowledge, among the publicly shared hominin enamel proteomes, A. africanus is the oldest hominin to be subjected to palaeoproteomic analysis,” said team member Palesa Madupe of the University of Copenhagen. The remains of this particular A. africanus individual were recovered from South Africa’s Sterkfontein Caves, and have been dated to more than three million years old. Analysis of amelogenin, a protein key to normal tooth development that is built differently by males and females, revealed that the A. africanus individual was male. The technique could help researchers better understand differences between hominin species, despite the few surviving fossils available for study, the researchers concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in South African Journal of Science. To read about another skeleton of a human ancestor unearthed in Sterkfontein, go to "Sticking Its Neck Out."