The Postmedieval Latvian Oral Microbiome in the Context of Modern Dental Calculus and Modern Dental Plaque Microbial Profiles

Abstract

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 that the majority of microbial DNA in historic dental calculus originated from the oral microbiome with little impact of the burial environment. Good preservation of ancient DNA in historical dental calculus samples has provided reliable insight into the composition of the oral microbiome of postmedieval Latvian individuals. The relative stability of the classifiable oral microbiome composition was observed. Significant differences between the microbiome profiles of dental calculus and dental plaque samples were identified, suggesting microbial adaptation to a specific human body environment.

Indigenous peoples in eastern Brazil: insights from 19th century genomes and metagenomes

“…Among the eight oral bacteria, Anaerolineaceae bacterium oral taxon 439, Actinomyces sp. oral taxon 414 and Tannerella forsythia have been previously reported in archeological remains from Europe and the Americas (Eisenhofer et al 2020; Kazarina et al 2021; Wada et al 2018; Ottoni et al, n.d.; Velsko et al 2019; Warinner et al 2014; Bravo-Lopez et al 2020).…”

Ancient dental calculus preserves signatures of biofilm succession and interindividual variation independent of dental pathology

“…Overall, however, the species profile appears to shift to one with more pathogenic potential, with elevated abundances of anaerobic, proteolytic species that are associated with periodontal disease. Given that dental calculus species profiles generally have higher abundance of these same disease-associated species, even in the absence of dental pathology ( 4 , 68 ), detecting smoke exposure-induced changes may be difficult. Specific changes might be detected by differential abundance analysis, but the relative value of this information in ancient dental calculus remains to be investigated.…”

Ancient dental calculus preserves signatures of biofilm succession and inter-individual variation independent of dental pathology

“…Overall, however, the species profile appears to shift to one with more pathogenic potential, with elevated abundances of anaerobic, proteolytic species that are associated with periodontal disease. Given that dental calculus species profiles generally have higher abundance of these same disease-associated species, even in the absence of dental pathology (Kazarina et al, 2021; Velsko et al, 2019), detecting smoke exposure-induced changes may be difficult. Specific changes might be detected by differential abundance analysis, but the relative value of this information in ancient dental calculus remains to be investigated.…”