Abstract
BackgroundAncient microbiota information represents an important resource to evaluate bacterial evolution and to explore the biological spread of infectious diseases in history. The soft tissue of frozen mummified humans, such as the Tyrolean Iceman, has been shown to contain bacterial DNA that is suitable for population profiling of the prehistoric bacteria that colonized such ancient human hosts.ResultsHere, we performed a microbial cataloging of the distal gut microbiota of the Tyrolean Iceman, which highlights a predominant abundance of Clostridium and Pseudomonas species. Furthermore, in silico analyses allowed the reconstruction of the genome sequences of five ancient bacterial genomes, including apparent pathogenic ancestor strains of Clostridium perfringens and Pseudomonas veronii species present in the gut of the Tyrolean Iceman.ConclusionsGenomic analyses of the reconstructed C. perfringens chromosome clearly support the occurrence of a pathogenic profile consisting of virulence genes already existing in the ancient strain, thereby reinforcing the notion of a very early speciation of this taxon towards a pathogenic phenotype. In contrast, the evolutionary development of P. veronii appears to be characterized by the acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes in more recent times as well as an evolution towards an ecological niche outside of the (human) gastrointestinal tract.
Highlights
Ancient microbiota information represents an important resource to evaluate bacterial evolution and to explore the biological spread of infectious diseases in history
Ötzi distal gut microbiome composition The substantial amount of available sequence data, i.e., 71 gigabases, from the 12 biopsy samples of the gastrointestinal tract of Ötzi has not yet been fully scrutinized and represents an intriguing opportunity for further, in depth functional and genomic studies of the ancient microbiota harbored by the Tyrolean Iceman [21]
Conclusions generation sequencing (NGS) approaches are a valuable resource allowing the exploration of the composition and functionalities of the human gut microbiota in the soft tissue of human mummies
Summary
Ancient microbiota information represents an important resource to evaluate bacterial evolution and to explore the biological spread of infectious diseases in history. The (healthy) human gut harbors a highly complex and abundant microbial community (representing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa), known as the gut microbiota, which exists in an equilibrium with its host [1]. The composition of such a microbiota is markedly influenced by the environment and diet, as well as host’s genetics and health status [2]. Several types of ancient specimens, including both coprolites as well as human remains, have been studied during recent years in order to elucidate their microbial associations [11, 12] In this context, the oral cavity [13, 14] and distal gut microbiota have been extensively analyzed [9, 10].
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