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Functional diversity of microbial ecologies estimated from ancient human coprolites and dental calculus.

ABSTRACT: Human microbiome studies are increasingly incorporating macroecological approaches, such as community assembly, network analysis and functional redundancy to more fully characterize the microbiome. Such analyses have not been applied to ancient human microbiomes, preventing insights into human microbiome evolution. We address this issue by analysing published ancient microbiome datasets: coprolites from Rio Zape (n = 7; 700 CE Mexico) and historic dental calculus (n = 44; 1770-1855 CE, UK), as well as two novel dental calculus datasets: Maya (n = 7; 170 BCE-885 CE, Belize) and Nuragic Sardinians (n = 11; 1400-850 BCE, Italy). Periodontitis-associated bacteria (Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Eubacterium saphenum) were identified as keystone taxa in the dental calculus datasets. Coprolite keystone taxa included known short-chain fatty acid producers (Eubacterium biforme, Phascolarctobacterium succinatutens) and potentially disease-associated bacteria (Escherichia, Brachyspira). Overlap in ecological profiles between ancient and modern microbiomes was indicated by similarity in functional response diversity profiles between contemporary hunter-gatherers and ancient coprolites, as well as parallels between ancient Maya, historic UK, and modern Spanish dental calculus; however, the ancient Nuragic dental calculus shows a distinct ecological structure. We detected key ecological signatures from ancient microbiome data, paving the way to expand understanding of human microbiome evolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Insights into health and disease from ancient biomolecules'.

SUBMITTER: Jacobson DK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7702801 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functional diversity of microbial ecologies estimated from ancient human coprolites and dental calculus.

Jacobson David K DK Honap Tanvi P TP Monroe Cara C Lund Justin J Houk Brett A BA Novotny Anna C AC Robin Cynthia C Marini Elisabetta E Lewis Cecil M CM

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20201005 1812

Human microbiome studies are increasingly incorporating macroecological approaches, such as community assembly, network analysis and functional redundancy to more fully characterize the microbiome. Such analyses have not been applied to ancient human microbiomes, preventing insights into human microbiome evolution. We address this issue by analysing published ancient microbiome datasets: coprolites from Rio Zape (<i>n</i> = 7; 700 CE Mexico) and historic dental calculus (<i>n</i> = 44; 1770-1855 ...[more]

PMID: 33012230

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Project description:ObjectivesArchaeological dental calculus is a rich source of host-associated biomolecules. Importantly, however, dental calculus is more accurately described as a calcified microbial biofilm than a host tissue. As such, concerns regarding destructive analysis of human remains may not apply as strongly to dental calculus, opening the possibility of obtaining human health and ancestry information from dental calculus in cases where destructive analysis of conventional skeletal remains is not permitted. Here we investigate the preservation of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in archaeological dental calculus and its potential for full mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) reconstruction in maternal lineage ancestry analysis.Materials and methodsExtracted DNA from six individuals at the 700-year-old Norris Farms #36 cemetery in Illinois was enriched for mtDNA using in-solution capture techniques, followed by Illumina high-throughput sequencing.ResultsFull mitogenomes (7-34×) were successfully reconstructed from dental calculus for all six individuals, including three individuals who had previously tested negative for DNA preservation in bone using conventional PCR techniques. Mitochondrial haplogroup assignments were consistent with previously published findings, and additional comparative analysis of paired dental calculus and dentine from two individuals yielded equivalent haplotype results. All dental calculus samples exhibited damage patterns consistent with ancient DNA, and mitochondrial sequences were estimated to be 92-100% endogenous. DNA polymerase choice was found to impact error rates in downstream sequence analysis, but these effects can be mitigated by greater sequencing depth.DiscussionDental calculus is a viable alternative source of human DNA that can be used to reconstruct full mitogenomes from archaeological remains. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:220-228, 2016. © 2016 The Authors American Journal of Physical Anthropology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Functional diversity of microbial ecologies estimated from ancient human coprolites and dental calculus.

Publications

Functional diversity of microbial ecologies estimated from ancient human coprolites and dental calculus.

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