Prehistoric microbiome and transition to agriculture

Reconstruction of ancient oral microbiomes from the Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic Periods in Southern Europe reveals a microbial species that expanded in concert with the expansion of agriculture, according to a study. The collections of commensal microbes living in the human mouth vary by population and, in addition to reflecting diet, can drive health and disease. During the transition from foraging to farming in the Neolithic period, the human diet significantly changed. Claudio Ottoni and colleagues reconstructed ancient oral microbiomes and report a microbial species that expanded in concert with the expansion of agriculture in two regions of Southern Europe: the Balkans and Italy. The authors reconstructed the oral microbiomes of 44 individuals, spanning more than 10,000 years during the transition from foraging to farming, and sequenced ancient DNA from the dental calculus, or tartar. A species from the family Anaerolineaceae was the dominant oral microbe, and its genome records its geographic diversification over time. The authors observed only minor differences in the microbiomes of foragers and farmers, perhaps due to a gradual transition to agriculture. However, comparing the species of microbes represented in the prehistoric samples with oral microbiomes from the present revealed significant differences. According to the authors, these differences may have arisen partly due to the accumulation of antibiotic resistance pathways in the oral commensal species of present-day populations.

Article #21-02116: "Tracking the transition to agriculture in Southern Europe through ancient DNA analysis of dental calculus," by Claudio Ottoni et al.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Claudio Ottoni, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, ITALY; email: claudio.ottoni@uniroma2.it; Emanuela Cristiani, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ITALY; email: emanuela.cristiani@uniroma1.it

###

---

---