Abstract
Recent developments in High-Throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) technologies and ancient DNA (aDNA) research have opened access to the characterization of the microbial communities within past populations. Most studies have, however, relied on the analysis of dental calculus as one particular material type particularly prone to the molecular preservation of ancient microbial biofilms and potential of entire teeth for microbial characterization, both of healthy communities and pathogens in ancient individuals, remains overlooked. In this study, we used shotgun sequencing to characterize the bacterial composition from historical subjects showing macroscopic evidence of oral pathologies. We first carried out a macroscopic analysis aimed at identifying carious or periodontal diseases in subjects belonging to a French rural population of the 18th century AD. We next examined radiographically six subjects showing specific, characteristic dental pathologies and applied HTS shotgun sequencing to characterize the microbial communities present in and on the dental material. The presence of Streptococcus mutans and also Rothia dentocariosa, Actinomyces viscosus, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Pseudoramibacter alactolyticus, Olsenella uli and Parvimonas micra was confirmed through the presence of typical signatures of post-mortem DNA damage at an average depth-of-coverage ranging from 0.5 to 7X, with a minimum of 35% (from 35 to 93%) of the positions in the genome covered at least once. Each sampled tooth showed a specific bacterial signature associated with carious or periodontal pathologies. This work demonstrates that from a healthy independent tooth, without visible macroscopic pathology, we can identify a signature of specific pathogens and deduce the oral health status of an individual.
Highlights
Dental medicine has an active branch of research focusing on the characterization of bacteria and oral biofilms because they are associated with the most common oral pathologies: caries, periapical and periodontal diseases [1]
Dental caries consist of multifactorial diseases influenced by the host diet and are associated with increased proportions of acidogenic and aciduric bacteria, especially from the genera Streptococcus (S. mutans and S. sobrinus) and Lactobacillus, which are involved in the enamel demineralization process [1, 4,5,6]
Mandibular cortical bone was deformed on the right part of the horizontal branch and a fistula aperture was present on the inner part of this branch (Fig 1, 213b and c)
Summary
Dental medicine has an active branch of research focusing on the characterization of bacteria and oral biofilms because they are associated with the most common oral pathologies: caries, periapical and periodontal diseases [1]. Such oral pathologies are extremely frequent amongst the populations of industrialized countries and have a major impact on the individual wellbeing and health care provisions [1, 2]. Gingivitis is associated with a general increase in plaque mass around the gingival margin, which provokes an inflammatory response in the host, while increased levels of anaerobic bacteria, including Gram-negative proteolytic species (especially belonging to the genera Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Tannerella, Fusobacterium and Treponema), are recovered from periodontal pockets
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