Artículos de revistas
DNA from human ancient bacteria: a novel source of genetic evidence from archaeological dental calculus
Fecha
2013Registro en:
Archaeometry 55, 4 (2013) 766–778
doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00707.x
Autor
Fuente, C. de la
Flores Carrasco, Sergio
Moraga Vergara, Mauricio
Institución
Resumen
We report a molecular methodology to obtain and analyse ancient bacterial DNA from
archaeological dental calculus. Recent and archaeological DNA samples, as old as 4000 BP,
were successfully extracted and amplified with species-specific PCR primers. We propose this
approach in order to: detect the presence of specific bacterial species infecting past human
populations; compare the composition of ancient oral microbiomes among human populations;
and analyse the genetic variability and covariation of bacteria and human host populations.
Genomic analysis of bacteria from dental calculus is a promising source of evidence
for palaeopathological and micro-evolutionary studies, focused either on micro-organisms or
their human hosts.