The Potential of Alkyl Amides as Novel Biomarkers and Their Application to Paleocultural Deposits in China

Jianjun Wang; Bernd R T Simoneit; Guoying Sheng; Liqi Chen; Libin Xu; Xinming Wang; Yuhong Wang; Liguang Sun

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15371-z

The Potential of Alkyl Amides as Novel Biomarkers and Their Application to Paleocultural Deposits in China

Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 7;7(1):14667. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-15371-z.

Authors

Jianjun Wang^{1

2}, Bernd R T Simoneit³, Guoying Sheng⁴, Liqi Chen⁵, Libin Xu⁶, Xinming Wang⁴, Yuhong Wang⁷, Liguang Sun⁸

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Global Change and Marine-Atmospheric Chemistry, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China. wangjianjun@tio.org.cn.
² Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China. wangjianjun@tio.org.cn.
³ Department of Chemistry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
⁴ Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Global Change and Marine-Atmospheric Chemistry, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China.
⁶ Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China.
⁷ NIH Chemical Genomics Center, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
⁸ Institute of Polar Environment, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China. slg@ustc.edu.cn.

Abstract

A series of alkyl amides was detected and identified in the sedimentary record from an archaeological site at Yuchisi, Mengcheng, Anhui, China. The alkyl amides profiles change abruptly at the depth corresponding to the transition between two prehistoric cultures, which also corresponds to an abrupt change in the fatty acid ratio C_18:2/C_18:0. The different patterns of variation of the longer and shorter chain alkyl amides at the depth of the cultural transition may reflect differences in their response to external environmental changes, as well as different sources. This is the first study of the stratigraphic variation of alkyl amides in sediments, and their first application to assess paleoenvironmental changes. We suggest that alkyl amides may have potential as new biomarkers in archeological and paleoenvironmental studies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't