Application for scientific samples from Turku Museum Centre Collections

Name: PhD Georges KAZAN, University of Turku (UTU)

Participating researchers: Prof Visa Immonen (UTU), PhD Auli Bläuer (UTU), PhD Alex Dickens (UTU), Mirva Pääkkönen (Turku Bioscience), Arttu Heinonen (Turku Bioscience).

Project: Species identification of archaeological samples of animal bone by peptide fingerprinting by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS)

Location: UTU Department of Archaeology, Metabolomics Centre and Turku Proteomics Facility, Turku Bioscience

Background Context: In 2018-2019, the project team trialled the Zooarchaeology by Mass-Spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide fingerprinting method at the University of Turku, using the MALDI machines available. This was first developed in 2008 and is used exclusively to identify mammal species. The trial failed due to the condition and specification of the MALDI available in Turku. Meanwhile, 10 samples of modern animals, including 1 salmon and 1 chicken bone, were successfully identified using LC-MS at Turku Proteomics Facility. These samples were prepared using the same methods as ZooMS samples. We then applied the same method to five archaeological samples of animal bone from mammals with a high degree of success.

Method: This is a destructive analysis, meaning that the samples will not be preserved afterwards. If necessary, they should be documented before sampling, with aspects such as weight, dimensions and morphology (e.g. by photography) being recorded. The sample preparation method follows the standard operating protocol for ZooMS (Buckley, Collins, Thomas-Oates & Wilson 2009). On the advice of Turku Proteomics Facility, formic acid will be used in place of TFA during the eluting stage, and, in addition, reduction and alkylation steps will be performed before trypsin digestion. These change are based on their experience of LC-MS analysis, which produces more detailed results than the MALDI typically used for ZooMS, and are anticipated to improve the quality of data produced.

Objective: To confirm that this type of analysis is possible and can be developed at Turku for archaeological purposes, we propose to test this method on archaeological samples of fish and bird bones.

Requirements: We therefore require one sample of bird bone from a known species, and one sample of fish bone from a known species (at least 30mg). This can consist of entire bones or fragments removed with a sterilised scalpel or bone saw.

References:

Buckley, M., Collins, M., Thomas-Oates, J., & Wilson, J. C. (2009). Species identification by analysis of bone collagen using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry: RCM, 23(23), 3843–3854. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4316