ArticleBMC genomics2020
Analysis of oral microbiome from fossil human remains revealed the significant differences in virulence factors of modern and ancient Tannerella forsythia.
Article in BMC genomics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Oral Microbiome of King Richard III of England.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Ancient Species Diversity and Niche Adaptation in Tannerella and Porphyromonas Revealed Through Pangenomics.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Microbiological and molecular aspects of periodontitis pathogenesis: an infection-induced inflammatory condition.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Review
- Innovative strategies targeting oral microbial dysbiosis: unraveling mechanisms and advancing therapies for periodontitis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Review
- First reportedFrontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Ancient Genomes From Bronze Age Remains Reveal Deep Diversity and Recent Adaptive Episodes for Human Oral Pathobionts.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Tracing microbial communities associated with archaeological human samples in Latvia, 7-11th centuries AD.Environmental microbiology reports · 2023Article
- Host Factors Associated with Gut Mycobiome Structure.mSystems · 2023Article
- A unique network of attack, defence and competence on the outer membrane of the periodontitis pathogenChemical science · 2023Article
- Historic and Prehistoric Epidemics: An Overview of Sources Available for the Study of Ancient Pathogens.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Pros and cons of causative association between periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis.Periodontology 2000 · 2022Review
- Article
- Oral Osteomicrobiology: The Role of Oral Microbiota in Alveolar Bone Homeostasis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundRecent advances in the next-generation sequencing (NGS) allowed the metagenomic analyses of DNA from many different environments and sources, including thousands of years old skeletal remains. It has been shown that most of the DNA extracted from ancient samples is microbial. There are several reports demonstrating that the considerable fraction of extracted DNA belonged to the bacteria accompanying the studied individuals before their death.
resultsIn this study we scanned 344 microbiomes from 1000- and 2000- year-old human teeth. The datasets originated from our previous studies on human ancient DNA (aDNA) and on microbial DNA accompanying human remains. We previously noticed that in many samples infection-related species have been identified, among them Tannerella forsythia, one of the most prevalent oral human pathogens. Samples containing sufficient amount of T. forsythia aDNA for a complete genome assembly were selected for thorough analyses. We confirmed that the T. forsythia-containing samples have higher amounts of the periodontitis-associated species than the control samples. Despites, other pathogens-derived aDNA was found in the tested samples it was too fragmented and damaged to allow any reasonable reconstruction of these bacteria genomes. The anthropological examination of ancient skulls from which the T. forsythia-containing samples were obtained revealed the pathogenic alveolar bone loss in tooth areas characteristic for advanced periodontitis. Finally, we analyzed the genetic material of ancient T. forsythia strains. As a result, we assembled four ancient T. forsythia genomes - one 2000- and three 1000- year-old. Their comparison with contemporary T. forsythia genomes revealed a lower genetic diversity within the four ancient strains than within contemporary strains. We also investigated the genes of T. forsythia virulence factors and found that several of them (KLIKK protease and bspA genes) differ significantly between ancient and modern bacteria.
conclusionsIn summary, we showed that NGS screening of the ancient human microbiome is a valid approach for the identification of disease-associated microbes. Following this protocol, we provided a new set of information on the emergence, evolution and virulence factors of T. forsythia, the member of the oral dysbiotic microbiome.
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