US EditionA Mammoth Toothache: Bacterial Community Discovered in Mouth of Ancient Mammal
Researchers sequenced DNA from 310 bacterial species found in mammoth remains, revealing ancient microbes including pathogens related to those affecting modern elephants, providing new evolutionary insights.
- The Centre for Palaeogenetics-led team reconstructed partial genomes of Erysipelothrix from a 1.1-million-year-old steppe mammoth, the oldest known host-associated microbial DNA recovered, as published in Cell.
- The specimens span North America, Britain, and Siberia, dating from the Early Pleistocene around one million years ago to Wrangel Island about 4,000 years ago, as researchers aimed to understand microbial roles in adaptation and extinction.
- Analyses revealed 310 bacterial species in mammoth tissues and a Pasteurella-related bacterium linked to pathogens affecting African elephants in mammoth teeth and bones.
- Researchers described the work as providing an `unprecedented` glimpse into ancient animal microbiomes, with co-author Benjamin Guinet calling it a `good opportunity` to understand mammoth bacteria globally.
- Using advanced genomic and bioinformatic techniques, the researchers separated ancient microbes from contaminants, yet DNA degradation and limited comparative data require future research to clarify mammoth health impacts.
34 Articles
34 Articles
The remains of a 1.1 million-year-old steppe mammoth allow the reconstruction of partial genomes of a pathogen, representing the microbial DNA associated with an older host ever recovered.The analyses carried out by a team of researchers headed by the University of Stockholm find in mammoth remains several microbes that were "probably associated with pathogen processes" in these animals. This was explained by researcher David Díez del Molino, fr…
A thorough research explores whether some microbes could contribute to the extinction of these animals
An international team with Spanish participation obtains the microbial DNA associated with an older animal that is recovered: it was preserved in mammoth remains from 1.1 million years ago. Some of the pathogens detected cause mortality in current elephants. Read
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