0000000000854135
AUTHOR
Alisa Kazarina
The Postmedieval Latvian Oral Microbiome in the Context of Modern Dental Calculus and Modern Dental Plaque Microbial Profiles
Recent advantages in paleomicrobiology have provided an opportunity to investigate the composition of ancient microbial ecologies. Here, using metagenome analysis, we investigated the microbial profiles of historic dental calculus retrieved from archaeological human remains from postmedieval Latvia dated 16–17th century AD and examined the associations of oral taxa and microbial diversity with specific characteristics. We evaluated the preservation of human oral microbiome patterns in historic samples and compared the microbial composition of historic dental calculus, modern human dental plaque, modern human dental calculus samples and burial soil microbiota. Overall, the results showed tha…
Detection of tick-borne encephalitis virus in I. ricinus ticks collected from autumn migratory birds in Latvia.
Birds have a potential of spreading ticks via bird migration routes. In this study, we screened 170 ticks removed during autumn 2010 from 55 birds belonging to 10 species for the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). In total, TBEV RNA was detected in 14% of I. ricinus tick samples obtained from different birds species. The results of this study indicate the possible role of migrating birds in the dispersal of TBEV-infected ticks along the southward migration route.
Insights into archaeological human sample microbiome using 16S rRNA gene sequencing
Human body is inhabited by a vast number of microorganisms, collectively known as human microbiome, and there is a tremendous interest in evolutionary changes of human microbial ecology, diversity and function. The field of paleomicrobiology – study of ancient human microbiome – is powered by modern techniques of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), which allows extracting microbial genomic data directly from archaeological sample of interest. One of the major techniques is 16S rRNA gene sequencing, by which certain 16S rRNA gene hypervariable regions are being amplified and sequenced. However, some limitations of this method exist including taxonomic precision and efficacy of different region…
Biomolecular characterization of the ancient microbiome in archaeological samples in Latvia
Senā cilvēka mikrobioma izpētes joma pēdējo gadu laikā ir strauji attīstījusies. Mūsdienu sekvencēšanas tehnoloģijas ļauj mums piekļūt vērtīgai informācijai par vēsturiskām mikroorganismu kopām. Līdz šim nav veikti pētījumi par vēsturisko mikrobiomu Latvijas arheoloģiskajos paraugos. Savā darbā esmu pētījusi senās DNS (aDNS) datu kopas un mikrobioma sastāvu arheoloģiskos pēcviduslaiku cilvēka kaulu, zobu un zobakmens paraugos Latvijā, Ziemeļeiropā, kas ir datēti ar mūsu ēras 15.–17.gadsimtu. Kopumā šajā darbā tika pētīts vēsturiskais cilvēka mikrobioms, novērtēta seno biomolekulu saglabāšanas pakāpe dažādos pēcviduslaiku arheoloģiskajos paraugos un raksturota iespējamā apbedījumu vides mikr…
Analysis of the bacterial communities in ancient human bones and burial soil samples: Tracing the impact of environmental bacteria
Abstract In our attempts to reveal the hidden fragments of the history of the natural world, ancient DNA (aDNA) is the precious missing key that allows us to discover hidden truths about ourselves and the world around us. Not only does aDNA encrypt genetic data from a particular individual, it also carries information about the microbial communities that were present in the individual. However, the process of such data mining has many intrinsic challenges. One of the main challenges in aDNA research is the contamination of archaeological material with environmental bacteria from the surrounding soil and postmortem microbial sources. The goal of this study was to identify the microbial commu…