I've only read the abstracts so far:
Analyses of Soft Tissue from Tyrannosaurus rex Suggest the Presence of Protein
Mary Higby Schweitzer, Zhiyong Suo, Recep Avci, John M. Asara, Mark A. Allen,
Fernando Teran Arce, and John R. Horner Science 13 April 2007: 277-280.
Mass spectroscopy reveals the protein sequence of collagen preserved in a
Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, demonstrating that biochemical data can be obtained
from long-extinct species.
Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus Rex Revealed by Mass Spectrometry
John M. Asara, Mary H. Schweitzer, Lisa M. Freimark, Matthew Phillips, and
Lewis C. Cantley Science 13 April 2007: 280-285.
Mass spectroscopy reveals the protein sequence of collagen preserved in a
Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, demonstrating that biochemical data can be obtained
from long-extinct species.

But based on my reading, Chickens were closest, followed by newts. This would
seem to excluded modern reptiles (including crocs?), but I doubt that it will
stop skeptics from arging that while chickens and Tyrannid dinosaurs share a
common ancestor, that common ancestor could be a non-dinosaur between newts
and early dino lineages.

Since early birds pre-date Tyrannosaurus by at least 80 million years, dino
to bird proponents still have a problem with the linearity of time. They
have yet to show anything more than a strong circumstantial case. The protein
evidence will probably not settle anything.

Your dino to bird reading list:

Of the birds to dinosaur folks, Chatterjee is the most pragmatic, in
_Rise of Birds_ he makes a very strong case for a dino to birds
origin while systematically disassembling the (in my opinion) ridiculous
ground up origin of flight.
Chatterjee, S. 1997. The Rise of Birds. John Hopkins Univ. Press Baltimore

In spite of the title, hardly heretical, even in 1986. Good read
though.
Bakker, R.T. 1986. The Dinosaur Heresies. William Morrow & Co.

Feduccia is one of the hard core skeptics of dino to bird evolution.
_Age of Birds_ is the much more readable of his two books.
Feduccia, A. 1980. The Age of Birds. Harvard University Press.
Feduccia, A. 1996. The Origin and Evolution of Birds. Yale Univ. Press

A popular childrens book produced in 1979
British Museum of Natural History. 1979. Dinosaur and their living
Relatives. University of Cambridge.

A popular treatment, by a competent science writer, who, unfortunately,
loses here objectivity and consistency when critiquing some aspects of
the popular theories of feather evolution and the origin of flight.
Shipman, P. 1998. Taking Wing. Simon & Schuster.

RE: US researchers . . . 68 million-year-old T-rex fossil
From: "Guttman,Burton" <GuttmanB AT evergreen.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:48:32 -0700

"That finding bolsters a recent and controversial proposal that birds and
dinosaurs are evolutionarily related, and change that hypothesis to a theory,
the researchers said. "


Kind of a strange emphasis, because the idea was proposed by Ostrom and by
Bakker around 1973-75, and it's been highly developed by many investigators. My
impression is that only a very few hardcore skeptics don't believe that birds
evolved from theropod dinosaurs. And by the way, doesn't "Birdbooker" Paulsen
have Chatterjee's marvelous book The Rise of Birds, which spells it all out in
detail? :-)

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

Dusty Book of the Month: _The Hawks of North America_
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/004483.html