Discovery and research of dinosaur eggs (DNA extraction from dinosaur eggs)

When it comes to dinosaur eggs, many people may be familiar with them. A large number of dinosaur eggs were discovered in the Xixia area of ​​Henan Province in my country in the past few years, and many of them were smuggled abroad by fossil traffickers. What's more, some scholars claimed to have extracted dinosaur DNA (genetic genes) from one of the eggs. ). For a time, dinosaur eggs became a hot topic that various newspapers and periodicals, television and radio stations around the world were competing to hype.

Dinosaur eggs discovered in Xixia area

The large number of dinosaur eggs discovered in the Xixia area has indeed aroused great repercussions in the academic community and society. The fossil sites found are all over 15 towns and 57 villages in Xixia County and the adjacent Neixiang County and Xichuan County. Dinosaur bone fossils were also discovered in three towns and four villages in Xixia and Neixiang counties. Dinosaur eggs and dinosaur bone fossils cover an area of 8,578 square kilometers, and more than 5,000 dinosaur eggs have been excavated. Such a large number of discoveries is truly a wonder in the world. The discovery of these dinosaur eggs and dinosaur bone fossils not only provides materials for the study of the classification of dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs, but also provides further understanding of the reproduction methods of dinosaurs, research on paleogeography, paleoclimate, paleolandforms, paleoecological environment, stratigraphy and burial provides a lot of valuable information.

However, the report of dinosaur DNA extracted from dinosaur eggs aroused the suspicion of many scientists at the beginning. It is said that the egg from which the dinosaur DNA was extracted was accidentally broken during transportation. It was found that the material inside the eggshell was soft floc, not the hard material made of mudstone or sandstone inside ordinary dinosaur eggs.

Therefore, relevant people believe that this soft floc is the product of incomplete decomposition of organic matter such as egg yolk and egg blue in the original dinosaur eggs. Based on this, they carried out extraction work in a laboratory originally used for plant biochemistry experiments and extracted a certain DNA fragment. They then compared this DNA fragment with the DNA of some known animals and plants. Based on the difference in comparison results, they announced that they had extracted the DNA of some kind of dinosaur.

What has aroused the suspicion of many scholars is that those "soft flocs" are the products of incomplete decomposition of organic matter such as egg yolks and egg blues? You must know that dinosaur eggs have been buried underground for at least 65 million years. Judging from the geological conditions in the Xixia area, the strata where dinosaur egg fossils are buried are all mudstone or siltstone, which cannot effectively protect organic matter from decomposition. Environmental factors, therefore, over such a long period of time, the original organic matter in the dinosaur eggs has long been decomposed, and the material in the eggshell has been replaced over these long years and filled with the same organic matter as the surrounding burial environment. Minerals, moreover, have been petrified. The "flocc" is probably the crystals of the common mineral calcite crystallized in the eggshell. If you go to the Chinese Palaeozoology Hall not far to the west of the Beijing Zoo, you can see a cut-open dinosaur egg in the exhibition hall on the second floor. Its interior is completely filled with calcite crystals and looks crystal clear. Transparent. The reason why the egg is "soft" is probably because it was soaked by groundwater when it was buried underground, or because it was wetted by water or a humid environment after being unearthed. Since the egg may have been contaminated by water and has been broken, the possibility of being contaminated by organic matter containing some kind of DNA component is very high. As for the extractor comparing this DNA fragment with the DNA of some known animals and plants, and based on the comparison results, he announced that the DNA extracted was the DNA of some kind of dinosaur. The conclusion is not reliable, because only if you compare this DNA fragment with Only when all known creatures are compared and the results are different can you say that it belongs to some kind of extinct or yet to be discovered creature. But from this step, their work is too far behind.

Later, some scientists compared the so-called "dinosaur DNA fragment" with the DNA of more species and found that its sequence was similar to that of a lower algae!

Now, the "dinosaur DNA" incident has no impact on the scientific community as if it were a passing cloud. But normal research on dinosaur eggs is still in progress. Scientists used modern instruments such as electron microscopes to conduct ultramicroscopic observations and chemical analysis studies on the shells of dinosaur eggs. They found that about 93% of the ingredients in dinosaur eggshells are calcium carbonate, which is composed of a layer of organic matter base layer and a layer of calcite. . This double-layer structure is similar to the eggshells of modern birds, which can effectively prevent the water inside the egg from evaporating, thereby protecting the normal development of the embryo in the egg. This proves that dinosaurs could breed in very dry environments at that time.

In individual dinosaur eggs unearthed in the Xixia region of my country and some areas in Mongolia, scientists have also discovered embryos or small dinosaur "babies". This not only allows scientists to know what kind of dinosaur laid such eggs, but also provides them with Exploring the development of this dinosaur provides clues and evidence.

Recently, Chinese scientists have also discovered eggshell lesions in dinosaur eggs produced in Nanxiong, Guangdong and Laiyang, Shandong, thus providing new perspectives and basis for studying the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

As dinosaur eggs continue to be discovered and research continues, dinosaur eggs will also contribute to scientists unraveling the mysteries of nature.

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