Heme signatures in mineralized red blood cells within vascular canals of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur bone
Detection of endogenous biomolecules in vertebrate fossils remains controversial because labile compounds degrade quickly and are highly susceptible to contamination. Here, we present data on the preservation of heme-derived tetrapyrroles, and vascular canal-constrained ellipsoidal microstructures, inferred to be red blood cells, in limb bones of Aratasaurus museunacionali , a 115-million-year-old theropod dinosaur. High-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry identified parent and diagenetically altered heme B as the principal tetrapyrroles of bone extract, contrasting the chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll porphyrin signatures of the surrounding matrix supporting an endogenous origin. Separate spatially resolved analyses by Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the ellipsoid microstructure localization of i) porphyrin signals of heme and ii) key elements of heme (Fe, N, and C) and mineral stabilizing hausmannite (Mn 3 O 4 ), respectively. These results demonstrate blood-derived biomolecules in mineralized red blood cells of a dinosaur.
Authors
- Lorenz Schwark (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0683-0817)
- Xiao Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5770-0943)
- Arthur Vicentini de Oliveira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2776-0600)
- Pieter T. Visscher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6911-1532)
- Naohiko Ohkouchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6355-7469)
- Renan Alfredo Machado Bantim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-0989)
- Nanako O. Ogawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3823-6444)
- Aaron C. Dodd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7547-0280)
- Bree Morgan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7068-8013)
- Calum P. Fox (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9345-923X)
- Madison Tripp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1128-6687)
- Paul F. Greenwood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4307-9137)
- William D.A. Rickard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8118-730X)
- Peter Hopper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1934-7026)
- Alex I. Holman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5687-1268)
- Yuta Isaji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4784-6316)
- Maria A. Diaz-Mateus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8039-5222)
- Stephen F. Poropat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4909-1666)
- Kliti Grice (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2136-3508)
- Alexander W. A. Kellner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7174-9447)
- Juliana Manso Sayão (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3619-0323)
- Jasmina Wiemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-1711)
- Luke M. Brosnan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3831-4633)
- Robert H.C. Madden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0459-3934)
- Sebastian Stanley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2915-9343)
- Julien Demore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7352-768X)
- Hossein Rahimpour-Bonab
- Victor O. Leshyk
- Antônio A. F. Saraiva
- Lisa Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9918-0705)
Institutions
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Curtin University (AU)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Universidade Regional do Cariri (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2026-11-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2614248123
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.36
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
- Australian Research Council