1. Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus
- Author
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Luis A. Arriola, Wolfgang Haak, Petra Held, Alan Cooper, N. J. Gully, Katerina Harvati, Daniel H. Huson, John A. Kaidonis, Alan G. Morris, Michael Francken, Donatella Usai, Antonio Rosas, Julien Soubrier, Patrick Semal, Joachim Wahl, Keith Dobney, Grant Townsend, Arkadiusz Sołtysiak, Carles Lalueza-Fox, David Caramelli, Karen Hardy, Veit Dresely, Kurt W. Alt, Milly Farrell, Edward C. Holmes, Marco de la Rasilla, James Breen, Bastien Llamas, Sebastián Duchêne, Laura S. Weyrich, Andrew G. Farrer, Australian Research Council, Weyrich, Laura S, Duchene, Sebastian, Soubrier, Julien, Arriola, Luis, and Cooper, Alan
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Neanderthal ,Time Factors ,ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species ,neanderthal ,01 natural sciences ,Genome ,Belgium ,Woolly rhinoceros ,Calculus ,Dental Calculus ,History, Ancient ,Neanderthals ,Multidisciplinary ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Stomach ,Carnivory ,Mouflon ,Intestines ,Caves ,Health ,Vegetarians ,010506 paleontology ,Meat ,Pan troglodytes ,Biology ,Methanobrevibacter ,03 medical and health sciences ,Food Preferences ,Cave ,biology.animal ,Animals ,Humans ,DNA, Ancient ,Symbiosis ,ancient DNA ,Perissodactyla ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,geography ,Mouth ,Sheep ,ved/biology ,Penicillium ,Enterocytozoon ,biology.organism_classification ,Diet ,stomatognathic diseases ,030104 developmental biology ,Ancient DNA ,Metagenomics ,Spain ,Methanobrevibacter oralis ,Genome, Bacterial - Abstract
Weyrich, Laura S. et al., Recent genomic data have revealed multiple interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans1, but there is currently little genetic evidence regarding Neanderthal behaviour, diet, or disease. Here we describe the shotgun-sequencing of ancient DNA from five specimens of Neanderthal calcified dental plaque (calculus) and the characterization of regional differences in Neanderthal ecology. At Spy cave, Belgium, Neanderthal diet was heavily meat based and included woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep (mouflon), characteristic of a steppe environment. In contrast, no meat was detected in the diet of Neanderthals from El Sidrón cave, Spain, and dietary components of mushrooms, pine nuts, and moss reflected forest gathering2, 3. Differences in diet were also linked to an overall shift in the oral bacterial community (microbiota) and suggested that meat consumption contributed to substantial variation within Neanderthal microbiota. Evidence for self-medication was detected in an El Sidrón Neanderthal with a dental abscess4 and a chronic gastrointestinal pathogen (Enterocytozoon bieneusi). Metagenomic data from this individual also contained a nearly complete genome of the archaeal commensal Methanobrevibacter oralis (10.2× depth of coverage)—the oldest draft microbial genome generated to date, at around 48,000 years old. DNA preserved within dental calculus represents a notable source of information about the behaviour and health of ancient hominin specimens, as well as a unique system that is useful for the study of long-term microbial evolution., The Australian Research Council supported this work through the Discovery Project and Fellowship schemes.
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- 2017