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Fewlass H, Zavala EI, Fagault Y, Tuna T, Bard E, Hublin JJ, Hajdinjak M, Wilczyński J. Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland. iScience 2023; 26:108283. [PMID: 38047066 PMCID: PMC10690573 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Six infant human teeth and 112 animal tooth pendants from Borsuka Cave were identified as the oldest burial in Poland. However, uncertainties around the dating and the association of the teeth to the pendants have precluded their association with an Upper Palaeolithic archaeological industry. Using <67 mg per tooth, we combined dating and genetic analyses of two human teeth and six herbivore tooth pendants to address these questions. Our interdisciplinary approach yielded informative results despite limited sampling material, and high levels of degradation and contamination. Our results confirm the Palaeolithic origin of the human remains and herbivore pendants, and permit us to identify the infant as female and discuss the association of the assemblage with different Palaeolithic industries. This study exemplifies the progress that has been made toward minimally destructive methods and the benefits of integrating methods to maximize data retrieval from precious but highly degraded and contaminated prehistoric material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Fewlass
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Ancient Genomics Lab, Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, UK
| | - Elena I. Zavala
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA
- Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA
| | - Yoann Fagault
- CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
| | - Thibaut Tuna
- CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
| | - Edouard Bard
- CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, Technopôle de l’Arbois BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 4, France
| | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, CIRB (UMR 7241 – U1050), Collège de France, 75231 Paris, France
| | - Mateja Hajdinjak
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jarosław Wilczyński
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Krakow, Poland
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Bowlby B, Free T, Coulson A, Al-Janabi A, Cannon A, Torrington E. Special Focus Issue - Celebrating 40 years of publishing lab techniques: looking back to look foreword. Biotechniques 2023; 75:75-77. [PMID: 37724394 DOI: 10.2144/btn-2023-0081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/20/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Beatrice Bowlby
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
| | - Tristan Free
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
| | - Annie Coulson
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
| | - Aisha Al-Janabi
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
| | - Ashling Cannon
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
| | - Ebony Torrington
- Future Science Group, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
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Essel E. Releasing secrets bound to ancient remains with modern DNA extraction techniques: an interview with Elena Essel. Biotechniques 2023; 75:42-46. [PMID: 37589132 DOI: 10.2144/btn-2023-0067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Elena Essel (Msc) spoke to Ebony Torrington, Managing Editor of BioTechniques. Essel is a molecular biologist in Matthias Meyer's Advanced DNA Sequencing Techniques group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany). Essel studied biology at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Erlangen, Germany) for her bachelor's and in Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (Halle an der Saale, Germany) for her master's. Essel worked in Meyer's group on DNA extraction of very degraded material for her master's thesis. Meyer is an expert in developing new cutting-edge methods for researching ancient DNA, with a focus on skeletal remains, and more recently on sediment remains. Essel now focusses on DNA sampling and extraction aspects of the pipeline at Meyer's lab for the ancient DNA workflow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Essel
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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Clavel P, Louis L, Sarkissian CD, Thèves C, Gillet C, Chauvey L, Tressières G, Schiavinato S, Calvière-Tonasso L, Telmon N, Clavel B, Jonvel R, Tzortzis S, Bouniol L, Fémolant JM, Klunk J, Poinar H, Signoli M, Costedoat C, Spyrou MA, Seguin-Orlando A, Orlando L. Improving the extraction of ancient Yersinia pestis genomes from the dental pulp. iScience 2023; 26:106787. [PMID: 37250315 PMCID: PMC10214834 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Ancient DNA preserved in the dental pulp offers the opportunity to characterize the genome of some of the deadliest pathogens in human history. However, while DNA capture technologies help, focus sequencing efforts, and therefore, reduce experimental costs, the recovery of ancient pathogen DNA remains challenging. Here, we tracked the kinetics of ancient Yersinia pestis DNA release in solution during a pre-digestion of the dental pulp. We found that most of the ancient Y. pestis DNA is released within 60 min at 37°C in our experimental conditions. We recommend a simple pre-digestion as an economical procedure to obtain extracts enriched in ancient pathogen DNA, as longer digestion times release other types of templates, including host DNA. Combining this procedure with DNA capture, we characterized the genome sequences of 12 ancient Y. pestis bacteria from France dating to the second pandemic outbreaks of the 17th and 18th centuries Common Era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Clavel
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Lexane Louis
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Clio Der Sarkissian
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Catherine Thèves
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Claudia Gillet
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Lorelei Chauvey
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Gaétan Tressières
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Stéphanie Schiavinato
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Laure Calvière-Tonasso
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Norbert Telmon
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Benoît Clavel
- Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements (AASPE), CNRS-UMR7209, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, 55 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Richard Jonvel
- Amiens Métropole Service Archéologie Préventive, 2 rue Colbert, 80000 Amiens, France
| | - Stéfan Tzortzis
- Service Régional de l’Archéologie, 21 allée Claude Forbin, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Laetitia Bouniol
- Service archéologique de la ville de Beauvais, 1 rue Desgroux, 60021 Beauvais, France
| | - Jean-Marc Fémolant
- Service archéologique de la ville de Beauvais, 1 rue Desgroux, 60021 Beauvais, France
| | | | - Hendrik Poinar
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L9, Canada
- Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S, 4L9, Canada
- Humans and the Microbiome Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Michel Signoli
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, EFS, ADES, 13005 Marseille, France
| | | | - Maria A. Spyrou
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andaine Seguin-Orlando
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
| | - Ludovic Orlando
- Centre d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), CNRS UMR5288, Université Paul Sabatier, 37 allées Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
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Essel E, Zavala EI, Schulz-Kornas E, Kozlikin MB, Fewlass H, Vernot B, Shunkov MV, Derevianko AP, Douka K, Barnes I, Soulier MC, Schmidt A, Szymanski M, Tsanova T, Sirakov N, Endarova E, McPherron SP, Hublin JJ, Kelso J, Pääbo S, Hajdinjak M, Soressi M, Meyer M. Ancient human DNA recovered from a Palaeolithic pendant. Nature 2023:10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2. [PMID: 37138083 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Artefacts made from stones, bones and teeth are fundamental to our understanding of human subsistence strategies, behaviour and culture in the Pleistocene. Although these resources are plentiful, it is impossible to associate artefacts to specific human individuals1 who can be morphologically or genetically characterized, unless they are found within burials, which are rare in this time period. Thus, our ability to discern the societal roles of Pleistocene individuals based on their biological sex or genetic ancestry is limited2-5. Here we report the development of a non-destructive method for the gradual release of DNA trapped in ancient bone and tooth artefacts. Application of the method to an Upper Palaeolithic deer tooth pendant from Denisova Cave, Russia, resulted in the recovery of ancient human and deer mitochondrial genomes, which allowed us to estimate the age of the pendant at approximately 19,000-25,000 years. Nuclear DNA analysis identifies the presumed maker or wearer of the pendant as a female individual with strong genetic affinities to a group of Ancient North Eurasian individuals who lived around the same time but were previously found only further east in Siberia. Our work redefines how cultural and genetic records can be linked in prehistoric archaeology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Essel
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Elena I Zavala
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ellen Schulz-Kornas
- Department of Cariology, Endodontology and Periodontology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Maxim B Kozlikin
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Helen Fewlass
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Benjamin Vernot
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael V Shunkov
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Anatoly P Derevianko
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
| | - Katerina Douka
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) Research Network, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ian Barnes
- Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Marie-Cécile Soulier
- Maison de la Recherche, Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, CNRS UMR 5608 TRACES, Toulouse, France
| | - Anna Schmidt
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Merlin Szymanski
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tsenka Tsanova
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Nikolay Sirakov
- National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | | | | | - Jean-Jacques Hublin
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Chaire de Paléoanthropologie, Collège de France, Paris, France
| | - Janet Kelso
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Svante Pääbo
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Mateja Hajdinjak
- Ancient Genomics Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Marie Soressi
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Matthias Meyer
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
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Baleka S, Varela L, Tambusso PS, Paijmans JL, Mothé D, Stafford TW, Fariña RA, Hofreiter M. Revisiting proboscidean phylogeny and evolution through total evidence and palaeogenetic analyses including Notiomastodon ancient DNA. iScience 2022; 25:103559. [PMID: 34988402 PMCID: PMC8693454 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The extinct Gomphotheriidae is the only proboscidean family that colonized South America. The phylogenetic position of the endemic taxa has been through several revisions using morphological comparisons. Morphological studies are enhanced by paleogenetic analyses, a powerful tool to resolve phylogenetic relationships; however, ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation decreases in warmer regions. Despite the poor preservation conditions for aDNA in humid, sub-tropical climates, we recovered ∼3,000 bp of mtDNA of Notiomastodon platensis from the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site, Uruguay. Our calibrated phylogeny places Notiomastodon as a sister taxon to Elephantidae, with a divergence time of ∼13.5 Ma. Additionally, a total evidence analysis combining morphological and paleogenetic data shows that the three most diverse clades within Proboscidea diverged during the early Miocene, coinciding with the formation of a land passage between Africa and Eurasia. Our results are a further step toward aDNA analyses on Pleistocene samples from subtropical regions and provide a framework for proboscidean evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sina Baleka
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
- Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Sæmundargata 2, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Luciano Varela
- Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
- Servicio Académico Universitario y Centro de Estudios Paleontológicos (SAUCE-P), Universidad de la República, Santa Isabel s/n, 91500 Sauce, Departamento de Canelones, Uruguay
| | - P. Sebastián Tambusso
- Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
- Servicio Académico Universitario y Centro de Estudios Paleontológicos (SAUCE-P), Universidad de la República, Santa Isabel s/n, 91500 Sauce, Departamento de Canelones, Uruguay
| | - Johanna L.A. Paijmans
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Dimila Mothé
- Laboratório de Mastozoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Pasteur, 458/501, 22290-240 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Instituto de Biologia, Campus Ilha do Fundão, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Richard A. Fariña
- Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
- Servicio Académico Universitario y Centro de Estudios Paleontológicos (SAUCE-P), Universidad de la República, Santa Isabel s/n, 91500 Sauce, Departamento de Canelones, Uruguay
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
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