ArticleNature microbiology2023
Ancient dental calculus reveals oral microbiome shifts associated with lifestyle and disease in Great Britain.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lifestyle Impacts the Oral Microbiome of Classical and Post-Classical Societies in Italy.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- The Oral Microbiome of King Richard III of England.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Article
- Insights into demographic and cultural influences on the oral microbiome from historical Japanese dental calculus.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Comprehensive review of understanding ancient dietary habits using modern analytical techniques.Food chemistry. Molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Host Traits Impact the Outcome of Metagenomic Library Preparation From Dental Calculus Samples Across Diverse Mammals.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Wet Lab Protocols Matter: Choice of DNA Extraction and Library Preparation Protocols Bias Ancient Oral Microbiome Recovery.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Ancient DNA and biomarkers from artefacts: insights into technology and cultural practices in Neolithic Europe.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Childhood nutritional stress and later-life health outcomes in medieval England: Evidence from incremental dentine analysis.Science advances · 2025Article
- Streptococcus abundance and oral site tropism in humans and non-human primates reflects host and lifestyle differences.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- The Impact of Diet and Nutrition on the Oral Microbiome.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- The Oral Microbiome and Us.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Inferring diet, disease and antibiotic resistance from ancient human oral microbiomes.Microbial genomics · 2024Review
- A Journey into the Evolution of Human Host-Oral Microbiome Relationship through Ancient Dental Calculus: A Scoping Review.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Insight into the microbial diversity and community in the sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui site (Sichuan, China).Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
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13 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
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Abstract
The prevalence of chronic, non-communicable diseases has risen sharply in recent decades, especially in industrialized countries. While several studies implicate the microbiome in this trend, few have examined the evolutionary history of industrialized microbiomes. Here we sampled 235 ancient dental calculus samples from individuals living in Great Britain (∼2200 BCE to 1853 CE), including 127 well-contextualized London adults. We reconstructed their microbial history spanning the transition to industrialization. After controlling for oral geography and technical biases, we identified multiple oral microbial communities that coexisted in Britain for millennia, including a community associated with Methanobrevibacter, an anaerobic Archaea not commonly prevalent in the oral microbiome of modern industrialized societies. Calculus analysis suggests that oral hygiene contributed to oral microbiome composition, while microbial functions reflected past differences in diet, specifically in dairy and carbohydrate consumption. In London samples, Methanobrevibacter-associated microbial communities are linked with skeletal markers of systemic diseases (for example, periostitis and joint pathologies), and their disappearance is consistent with temporal shifts, including the arrival of the Second Plague Pandemic. This suggests pre-industrialized microbiomes were more diverse than previously recognized, enhancing our understanding of chronic, non-communicable disease origins in industrialized populations.
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