Wang Guang-Zhong, Ma Bin-Guang, Yang Yan, Zhang Hong-Yu
Shandong Provincial Research Center for Bioinformatic Engineering and Technique, Center for Advanced Study, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, PR China.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005 Aug 12;333(4):1047-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.05.039.
Dinosaur extinction is a great challenge to evolutionary biology. Although accumulating evidence suggests that an abrupt change of environment, such as a long period of low temperature induced by asteroid hit or other disasters, may be responsible for dinosaur extinction, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms. By analyzing the amino acid compositions of 13 biological classes, we found that the charged amino acid content of modern Reptilia, the sibling of dinosaur, is strikingly different from those of other classes, which inspires us to propose a possible molecular mechanism for dinosaur extinction.
