Shell palaeoproteomics: first application of peptide mass fingerprinting for the rapid identification of mollusc shells in archaeology.

10 pagesInternational audienceMolluscs were one of the most widely-used natural resources in the past, and their shells are abundant among archaeological findings. However, our knowledge of the variety of shells that were circulating in prehistoric times (and thus their socio-economic and cultural value) is scarce due to the difficulty of achieving taxonomic determination of fragmented and/or worked remains. This study aims to obtain molecular barcodes based on peptide mass fingerprints (PMFs) of intracrystalline proteins, in order to obtain shell identification. Palaeoproteomic applications on shells are challenging, due to low concentration of molluscan proteins and an incomplete understanding of their sequences. We explore different approaches for protein extraction from small-size samples (