Reconstructing rapid, post-migratory biological adaptation using ancient dental calculus

随着人类在过去的地球仪中迁移，新的饮食、环境暴露和生活方式可能以不同的方式影响健康，同时影响生活在人体内的有益微生物-微生物组。了解人类微生物组如何适应新的压力对于了解过去的人类健康以及揭示肥胖，心血管疾病和口腔健康状况不佳等慢性疾病的起源至关重要。在这个项目中，研究小组使用古老的钙化牙菌斑来重建作为祖先人类口腔微生物组一部分的微生物的历史，并估计这些微生物如何随着生活方式和环境的变化而随着时间的推移而变化。这项研究推进了对过去的历史，暴露和大约1,000年前到达新地区可能对人类健康做出贡献的理解。该项目支持研究生培训和指导以及国际研究合作。整个项目的社区参与和学生交流确保了这项研究的结果在学术期刊和当地媒体上转化为实践。 该研究小组使用来自钙化牙石的古代DNA测序重建了古代人类微生物组。他们测试饮食的变化，（即，新食物来源的使用），环境或景观的变化（即，在高海拔或低海拔的定居），以及与新人的互动（即，其他种群的到来）影响了这些祖先中微生物的多样性。更详细的分析确定了伴随这些基于社区的转变的单个微生物的特定基因组适应和重排。这些微生物适应性在过去人类健康的背景下进行检查，以了解这些机制如何与现代慢性病的发展有关。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As humans migrated across the globe in the past, new diets, environmental exposures, and lifestyle practices likely influenced health in different ways and simultaneously impacted the beneficial microorganisms that live within the human body – the microbiome. Understanding how the human microbiome adapted to new pressures is critical for understanding human health in the past and uncovering the origins of chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and poor oral health. In this project, the research team uses ancient calcified dental plaque to reconstruct the history of microorganisms that were part of Ancestors’ human oral microbiome and estimate how these microorganisms changed over time with shifts in lifestyle and environment. The research advances understanding about how past histories, exposures, and arrivals in new areas around 1,000 years ago may have contributed to human health. The project supports graduate student training and mentoring and international research collaborations. Community-engagement and student exchanges throughout the project ensure that findings from this study are translated into practice in academic journals and local outlets. This research team reconstructs ancient human microbiomes using ancient DNA sequencing from calcified dental calculus. They test how shifts in diet, (i.e., the use of new food sources), changes in environment or landscape (i.e., settlement in high or low altitude), and interactions with new people (i.e., arrival of other populations to the area) influenced the diversity of microorganisms in these Ancestors. More detailed analyses identify the specific genomic adaptations and rearrangements in individual microbes that accompanied these community-based shifts. These microbial adaptations are examined in the context of past human health to understand how these mechanisms may be related to the development of modern chronic diseases.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.