ArticleMicrobiome2021
Metagenomic analysis of ancient dental calculus reveals unexplored diversity of oral archaeal Methanobrevibacter.
Article in Microbiome, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Oral Microbiome of King Richard III of England.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- De novo assembly and authentication of ancient DNA metagenomes with nf-core/mag.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Insights into demographic and cultural influences on the oral microbiome from historical Japanese dental calculus.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Wet Lab Protocols Matter: Choice of DNA Extraction and Library Preparation Protocols Bias Ancient Oral Microbiome Recovery.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Host Traits Impact the Outcome of Metagenomic Library Preparation From Dental Calculus Samples Across Diverse Mammals.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- CarpeDeam: a de novo metagenome assembler for heavily damaged ancient datasets.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Ancient Microbiomes as Mirrored by DNA Extracted From Century-Old Herbarium Plants and Associated Soil.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Streptococcus abundance and oral site tropism in humans and non-human primates reflects host and lifestyle differences.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Unravelling Prokaryotic Codon Usage: Insights from Phylogeny, Influencing Factors and Pathogenicity.Current genomics · 2025Review
- Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina.Communications biology · 2024Article
- A Journey into the Evolution of Human Host-Oral Microbiome Relationship through Ancient Dental Calculus: A Scoping Review.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Establishment of a non-Westernized gut microbiota in men who have sex with men is associated with sexual practices.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Metagenomic analysis of Mesolithic chewed pitch reveals poor oral health among stone age individuals.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Review
- Paleomicrobiology: Tracking the past microbial life from single species to entire microbial communities.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Review
- Ancient dental calculus reveals oral microbiome shifts associated with lifestyle and disease in Great Britain.Nature microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Metagenomics-based inference of microbial metabolism towards neuroactive amino acids and the response to antibiotics in piglet colon.Amino acids · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDental calculus (mineralised dental plaque) preserves many types of microfossils and biomolecules, including microbial and host DNA, and ancient calculus are thus an important source of information regarding our ancestral human oral microbiome. In this study, we taxonomically characterised the dental calculus microbiome from 20 ancient human skeletal remains originating from Trentino-South Tyrol, Italy, dating from the Neolithic (6000-3500 BCE) to the Early Middle Ages (400-1000 CE).
resultsWe found a high abundance of the archaeal genus Methanobrevibacter in the calculus. However, only a fraction of the sequences showed high similarity to Methanobrevibacter oralis, the only described Methanobrevibacter species in the human oral microbiome so far. To further investigate the diversity of this genus, we used de novo metagenome assembly to reconstruct 11 Methanobrevibacter genomes from the ancient calculus samples. Besides the presence of M. oralis in one of the samples, our phylogenetic analysis revealed two hitherto uncharacterised and unnamed oral Methanobrevibacter species that are prevalent in ancient calculus samples sampled from a broad range of geographical locations and time periods.
conclusionsWe have shown the potential of using de novo metagenomic assembly on ancient samples to explore microbial diversity and evolution. Our study suggests that there has been a possible shift in the human oral microbiome member Methanobrevibacter over the last millennia. Video abstract.
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