A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch

Theis Z. T. Jensen; Jonas Niemann; Katrine Højholt Iversen; Anna K. Fotakis; Shyam Gopalakrishnan; Åshild J. Vågene; Mikkel Winther Pedersen; Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding; Martin R. Ellegaard; Morten E. Allentoft; Liam T. Lanigan; Alberto J. Taurozzi; Sofie Holtsmark Nielsen; Michael W. Dee; Martin N. Mortensen; Mads C. Christensen; Søren A. Sørensen; Matthew J. Collins; M. Thomas P. Gilbert; Martin Sikora; Simon Rasmussen; Hannes Schroeder

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13549-9

A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch

Theis Z. T. Jensen, Jonas Niemann, Katrine Højholt Iversen, Anna K. Fotakis, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Åshild J. Vågene, Mikkel Winther Pedersen, Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding, Martin R. Ellegaard, Morten E. Allentoft, Liam T. Lanigan, Alberto J. Taurozzi, Sofie Holtsmark Nielsen, Michael W. Dee, Martin N. Mortensen, Mads C. Christensen, Søren A. Sørensen, Matthew J. Collins, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Martin SikoraSimon Rasmussen, Hannes Schroeder^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.3× and find that the individual who chewed the pitch was female and that she was genetically more closely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than hunter-gatherers from central Scandinavia. We also find that she likely had dark skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes. In addition, we identify DNA fragments from several bacterial and viral taxa, including Epstein-Barr virus, as well as animal and plant DNA, which may have derived from a recent meal. The results highlight the potential of chewed birch pitch as a source of ancient DNA.

Original language	English
Article number	5520
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	10
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2041-1723
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13549-9
Publication status	Published - 2019

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A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitchFinal published version, 2.46 MBLicence: CC BY

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Jensen, T. Z. T., Niemann, J., Iversen, K. H., Fotakis, A. K., Gopalakrishnan, S., Vågene, Å. J., Pedersen, M. W., Sinding, M-H. S., Ellegaard, M. R., Allentoft, M. E., Lanigan, L. T., Taurozzi, A. J., Nielsen, S. H., Dee, M. W., Mortensen, M. N., Christensen, M. C., Sørensen, S. A., Collins, M. J., Gilbert, M. T. P., ... Schroeder, H. (2019). A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch. Nature Communications, 10, [5520]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13549-9

A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch. / Jensen, Theis Z. T.; Niemann, Jonas; Iversen, Katrine Højholt; Fotakis, Anna K.; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam ; Vågene, Åshild J.; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther ; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S.; Ellegaard, Martin R.; Allentoft, Morten E.; Lanigan, Liam T.; Taurozzi, Alberto J.; Nielsen, Sofie Holtsmark; Dee, Michael W.; Mortensen, Martin N.; Christensen, Mads C.; Sørensen, Søren A.; Collins, Matthew J.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Sikora, Martin ; Rasmussen, Simon ; Schroeder, Hannes.

In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, 5520, 2019.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Jensen, TZT , Niemann, J, Iversen, KH, Fotakis, AK , Gopalakrishnan, S , Vågene, ÅJ , Pedersen, MW , Sinding, M-HS, Ellegaard, MR, Allentoft, ME , Lanigan, LT , Taurozzi, AJ, Nielsen, SH, Dee, MW, Mortensen, MN, Christensen, MC, Sørensen, SA, Collins, MJ , Gilbert, MTP , Sikora, M , Rasmussen, S & Schroeder, H 2019, 'A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch', Nature Communications, vol. 10, 5520. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13549-9

Jensen, Theis Z. T. ; Niemann, Jonas ; Iversen, Katrine Højholt ; Fotakis, Anna K. ; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam ; Vågene, Åshild J. ; Pedersen, Mikkel Winther ; Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S. ; Ellegaard, Martin R. ; Allentoft, Morten E. ; Lanigan, Liam T. ; Taurozzi, Alberto J. ; Nielsen, Sofie Holtsmark ; Dee, Michael W. ; Mortensen, Martin N. ; Christensen, Mads C. ; Sørensen, Søren A. ; Collins, Matthew J. ; Gilbert, M. Thomas P. ; Sikora, Martin ; Rasmussen, Simon ; Schroeder, Hannes. / A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch. In: Nature Communications. 2019 ; Vol. 10.

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abstract = "The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.3× and find that the individual who chewed the pitch was female and that she was genetically more closely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than hunter-gatherers from central Scandinavia. We also find that she likely had dark skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes. In addition, we identify DNA fragments from several bacterial and viral taxa, including Epstein-Barr virus, as well as animal and plant DNA, which may have derived from a recent meal. The results highlight the potential of chewed birch pitch as a source of ancient DNA.",

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AU - Gopalakrishnan, Shyam

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AB - The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.3× and find that the individual who chewed the pitch was female and that she was genetically more closely related to western hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe than hunter-gatherers from central Scandinavia. We also find that she likely had dark skin, dark brown hair and blue eyes. In addition, we identify DNA fragments from several bacterial and viral taxa, including Epstein-Barr virus, as well as animal and plant DNA, which may have derived from a recent meal. The results highlight the potential of chewed birch pitch as a source of ancient DNA.

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