Data from: Peptide sequences from the first Castoroides ohioensis skull and the utility of old museum collections for paleoproteomics

Vertebrate fossils have been collected for hundreds years and are stored
in museum collections around the world. These remains provide a readily
available resource to search for preserved proteins; however, the vast
majority of paleoproteomic studies have focused on relatively recently
collected bones with a well-known handling history. Here, we characterize
proteins from the nasal turbinates of the first Castoroides ohioensis
skull ever discovered. Collected in 1845, this is the oldest museum
curated specimen characterized using paleoproteomic tools. Our mass
spectrometry analysis detected many collagen I peptides, a peptide from
hemoglobin beta, and in vivo and diagenetic post-translational
modifications. Additionally, the identified collagen I sequences provide
enough resolution to place C. ohioensis within Rodentia. This study
illustrates the utility of archived museum specimens for both the recovery
of preserved proteins and phylogenetic analyses.