Back

Palaeoproteomic deconvolution of physical and genetic collagen mixtures

Engels, I.; Dedrie, T.; Saugen, S. M.; Van de Vyver, S.; Vandenbroucke, T.; Di Modica, K.; Decher, J.; Toso, A.; Deforce, D.; Daled, S.; Burnett, A.; Abrams, G.; Dhaenens, M.

2026-06-18 biochemistry
10.64898/2026.06.17.732552 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Species identification in palaeoproteomics relies on genome-derived protein sequences which are often poor-quality, and lacks tools to cope with multi-species samples. Here, we address both challenges through the analysis of physical and genetic mixtures. Species that are absent from our database are considered a genetic mixture, i.e. a patchwork of peptides from closely related species. Inversely, various overlapping peptide stretches allow us to resolve complex physical mixtures. This is benchmarked by analysing physical mixtures of modern bone fragments, including genetic mixtures. We illustrate the impact of our approach via a rapid and high-throughput analysis of >2500 bone fragments, revealing the Eemian-era faunal environment around Scladina Cave, including the first Palaeoloxodon antiquus identified at this site. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=182 SRC="FIGDIR/small/732552v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (67K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@75c1d3org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1084481org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1c9a4f9org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@16dd859_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

Matching journals

The top 7 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

1
GigaScience
212 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
11.9%
2
Scientific Reports
3612 papers in training set
Top 4%
10.7%
3
eLife
5828 papers in training set
Top 13%
7.9%
4
PLOS ONE
5266 papers in training set
Top 25%
6.7%
5
Journal of Structural Biology
64 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
5.5%
6
Nature Communications
5641 papers in training set
Top 29%
4.9%
7
Journal of Proteome Research
234 papers in training set
Top 0.8%
3.5%
50% of probability mass above
8
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2444 papers in training set
Top 21%
2.4%
9
Scientific Data
209 papers in training set
Top 1%
2.4%
10
Royal Society Open Science
214 papers in training set
Top 2%
2.1%
11
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics
25 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
2.1%
12
Communications Biology
993 papers in training set
Top 10%
2.1%
13
PLOS Computational Biology
1863 papers in training set
Top 14%
1.7%
14
PNAS Nexus
159 papers in training set
Top 0.9%
1.7%
15
Genome Biology
637 papers in training set
Top 5%
1.7%
16
Peer Community Journal
281 papers in training set
Top 3%
1.5%
17
Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal
242 papers in training set
Top 4%
1.5%
18
Science Advances
1243 papers in training set
Top 23%
1.3%
19
Forensic Science International: Genetics
26 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
1.1%
20
iScience
1154 papers in training set
Top 25%
1.1%
21
Bioinformatics
1204 papers in training set
Top 8%
1.1%
22
Molecular Biology and Evolution
542 papers in training set
Top 4%
1.0%
23
Communications Chemistry
48 papers in training set
Top 1%
1.0%
24
Nucleic Acids Research
1281 papers in training set
Top 12%
1.0%
25
New Phytologist
346 papers in training set
Top 4%
1.0%
26
Advanced Science
286 papers in training set
Top 8%
1.0%
27
Cell Reports
1498 papers in training set
Top 27%
0.8%
28
PLOS Biology
486 papers in training set
Top 11%
0.8%
29
PeerJ
308 papers in training set
Top 13%
0.6%
30
Science
477 papers in training set
Top 10%
0.6%