Establishment of Plant Paleoproteomics

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K18486
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 3:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Nishiuchi Takumi 金沢大学, 疾患モデル総合研究センター, 准教授 (20334790)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-06-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: パレオプロテオミクス / 植物種子 / 土器付着物 / 植物遺体 / タンパク質データベース / RNA-Seq

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We attempted to develop a foundation for plant paleoproteomics, which reveals plant genera and species by detecting and identifying Cupin superfamily proteins, which are plant seed proteins that remain in carbonized seeds and carbonized food crusts attached to archaeological potteries. For carbonized rice, it was found that Japonica and Indica species could be discriminated if the samples were well preserved. For the charred food crusts adhering to archaeological potteries, Cupin family proteins from rice, soybean, and walnut were efficiently detected, and genus and species could be identified. On the other hand, RNA-Seq analysis was performed on six current acorn species for which little protein information was available, and a new protein database was created to improve the foundation for detecting more diverse plant species.

Free Research Field

プロテオミクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究により、植物遺体を同定することで、炭化米の場合には、試料の保存状況が良ければ、ジャポニカ種とインディカ種を判別可能であることを明らかにした。また、土器付着炭化物については、Cupinファミリータンパクを効率よく検出する研究基盤を確立できたことで、考古試料について植物の属や種のレベルで同定することが可能となった。さらに、タンパク質の情報がほとんどなかった堅果類等については、現生果実を用いてRNA-Seq解析を実施し、タンパク質のデータベースを作成することで、より多様な植物種の同定が可能となり、植物パレオプロテオミクスの今後の拡張性についても示すことができた。