Abstract The genus Streptococcus is highly diverse and a core member of the primate oral microbiome. Streptococcus species are grouped into at least eight phylogenetically-supported clades, five of which are found almost exclusively in the oral cavity. We explored the dominant Streptococcus phylogenetic…
Erschienen: Nature Publishing Group UK, 2025-01-17
Während des fast 1500 Jahre langen Bestehens des römischen Reichs (27 v.Chr. – 1453 n.Chr.), hatte dieses starken Einfluss auf die Zusammensetzung der Bevölkerung und die Kulturlandschaft in Nordwesteuropa. Beginnend mit der Unterteilung in das Weströmische und das Oströmische Reich (395 n.Chr.) gingen…
Infectious diseases have plagued humans continuously throughout history. In particular, the last few millennia have witnessed an increase in the pathogenic burden due to population growth, the domestication of animals and their close contact as well as the expansion into novel ecosystems and regions.…
Archaeogenetic studies could show that cultural changes across Western Eurasia were often associated with genetic changes. These changes happened on a large-scale, population-wide level but also affected past societies in their social and cultural organisation. This thesis investigates significant genetic…
Abstract Background The terrestrial subsurface is home to a significant proportion of the Earth’s microbial biomass. Our understanding about terrestrial subsurface microbiomes is almost exclusively derived from groundwater and porous sediments mainly by using 16S rRNA gene surveys. To obtain more insights…
Abstract Industrialization—including urbanization, participation in the global food chain and consumption of heavily processed foods—is thought to drive substantial shifts in the human microbiome. While diet strongly influences stool microbiome composition, the influence of diet on the oral microbiome…
Recent advances in sequencing technology made it possible to retrieve DNA from archaeological samples that are hundreds or thousand years old Working with DNA retrieved from archaeological samples poses its own unique challenges. Firstly, DNA has a half-life and will decay after death, that means, only…
The 1980s were very prolific years not only for music, but also for molecular biology and genetics, with the first publications on the microbiome and ancient DNA. Several technical revolutions later, the field of ancient metagenomics is now progressing full steam ahead, at a never seen before pace. While…
The aim of this thesis is to analyse the changes that have occurred in the immune system of the human host after key moments, such as pandemic and epidemic events, by comparing the variants of immunity genes before and after such events, and to study one of the pathogens that has evolved to overcome…
The microbes that live in and on our bodies play major roles in health and disease due to their symbiotic relationship with the host. Understanding how these communities adapt to changes in their environment - either by natural or anthropological forces - is currently a critical area of research for…
Studies of ancient microbiomes can shed light on several aspects of human history and microbial evolution, as well as aid in understanding modern day diseases. During recent years, studies of archaeological dental calculus have gained much interest, as this calcified microbial biofilm preserves biomolecules…
Archaeogenetics has revealed two major migrations that shaped European prehistory; one starting in the 7th millennium BCE and associated with the transition to agriculture, and another with the appearence of the Corded Ware cultural complex in the early 3rd millennium BCE. However, most findings have…
Although several studies have positively identified dairy proteins from ancient dental calculus, other dietary protein identifications are exceedingly rare. The manuscripts included in this thesis include the identification of 20 different dietary proteins that could be taxonomically identified to the…
Ancient pathogenomics is the field that studies past pathogens by recovering ancient DNA from archaeological remains. This discipline has been highly reliant on phylogenetic analyses, which provide information on: how past strains are related to their modern relatives; past diversity of the pathogen…
The revolution of sequencing technology has brought an exponential increase in the production of genomic data. This thesis tackles global and continental questions on human demographic history from two directions using genetic data. Manuscript A provides a novel analytical method for estimating migration…
I applied state-of-the-art ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches to recover highly degraded DNA molecules from post-glacial hunter-gatherers and early farmers from the Mediterranean to investigate the demographic processes that underlie archaeological transitions after the Ice Age and during the expansion of…
Alte mikrobielle DNA ist eine ausgezeichnete Quelle um Informationen über die Gesundheit der Menschen in der Vergangenheit zu gewinnen. Die Methoden zur effektiven
Analyse sind noch jung und müssen weiter präzisiert werden. Next-Generation-Sequenzierungstechnologien machten es möglich, vollständige…