RT Journal Article
T1 Ancient host-associated microbes obtained from mammoth remains
A1 Guinet, Benjamin
A1 Oskolkov, Nikolay
A1 Moreland, Kelsey
A1 Dehasque, Marianne
A1 Chacón Duque, J. Camilo
A1 Angerbjörn, Anders
A1 Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
A1 Danilov, Gleb
A1 Kanellidou, Foteini
A1 Kitchener, Andrew C.
AB Ancient genomic studies have extensively explored human-microbial interactions, yet research on non-human animals remains limited. In this study, we analyzed ancient microbial DNA from 483 mammoth remains spanning over 1 million years, including 440 newly sequenced and unpublished samples from a 1.1-million-year-old steppe mammoth. Using metagenomic screening, contaminant filtering, damage pattern analysis, and phylogenetic inference, we identified 310 microbes associated with different mammoth tissues. While most microbes were environmental or post-mortem colonizers, we recovered genomic evidence of six host-associated microbial clades spanning Actinobacillus, Pasteurella, Streptococcus, and Erysipelothrix. Some of these clades contained putative virulence factors, including a Pasteurella-related bacterium that had previously been linked to the deaths of African elephants. Notably, we reconstructed partial genomes of Erysipelothrix from the oldest mammoth sample, representing the oldest authenticated host-associated microbial DNA to date. This work demonstrates the potential of obtaining ancient animal microbiomes, which can inform further paleoecological and evolutionary research.
PB Elsevier
SN 0092-8674
YR 2025
FD 2025-11-13
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126307
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/126307
LA eng
NO Guinet, B., Oskolkov, N., Moreland, K., Dehasque, M., Chacón-Duque, J. C., Angerbjörn, A., Arsuaga, J. L., Danilov, G., Kanellidou, F., Kitchener, A. C., Muller, H., Plotnikov, V., Protopopov, A., Tikhonov, A., Termes, L., Zazula, G., Mortensen, P., Grigorieva, L., Richards, M., … Van Der Valk, T. (2025). Ancient host-associated microbes obtained from mammoth remains. Cell, 188(23), 6606-6619.e24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.003
DS Docta Complutense
RD 31 dic 2025