Proteomic analysis of dental enamel from 20 Homo naledi individuals show no male markers

Madupe, Palesa P., Taurozzi, Alberto J., Koenig, Claire, Patramanis, Ioannis, Munir, Fazeelah, Dickinson, Marc R., Mackie, Meaghan, Troché, Gaudry, Parker, Glendon, Kyriakidou, Pelagia, and others. (2026) Proteomic analysis of dental enamel from 20 Homo naledi individuals show no male markers. Cell, 189 (4). Article Number p4415-4424.e11. ISSN 0092-8674. (doi:10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.044) (KAR id:115663)

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.044

Abstract

The Rising Star Cave system excavations resulted in a high number of well-preserved skeletal specimens from multiple individuals of Homo naledi, showing a high degree of morphological homogeneity including dental variation possibly consistent with a single sex sample. Here we report the paleoproteomic analysis of dental enamel proteins extracted via micro-destructive acid etching from 23 H. naledi specimens belonging to a minimum of 20 individuals. After excluding the possibility of technical bias, no convincing evidence supporting the confident identification of male individuals was detected in any of the investigated samples. We find no polymorphic sites in the entire population studied, but we detect two amino acid substitutions differentiating H. naledi from late Pleistocene and modern humans: a unique amelogenin X mutation and an ancestral COL17A1 variant also present in Paranthropus robustus. Our results further support the homogeneity of H. naledi fossils and show how to sustainably investigate extinct hominins.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.044
Uncontrolled keywords:	paleoproteomics; South Africa; amelogenin; sex attribution; acid etching; sex bias; Rising Star cave system
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General)
Institutional Unit:	Schools > School of Natural Sciences > Chemistry and Forensic Science
Former Institutional Unit:	There are no former institutional units.
Funders:	Natural Environment Research Council (https://ror.org/02b5d8509) Marie Curie (https://ror.org/02aqv1x10) National Geographic Society (https://ror.org/04bqh5m06)
Depositing User:	Patrick Mahoney
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2026 14:51 UTC
Last Modified:	13 Aug 2026 08:19 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/115663 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Mahoney, Patrick.

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2715-3096
CReDIT Contributor Roles:	Writing - review and editing, Visualisation, Investigation, Software, Writing - original draft, Conceptualisation, Methodology

McFarlane, Gina.

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7441-2281
CReDIT Contributor Roles:	Investigation, Writing - review and editing

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