Barnes Ian, Thomas Mark G
Department of Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Mar 22;273(1587):645-53. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3339.
Reports of bacterial pathogen DNA sequences obtained from archaeological bone specimens raise the possibility of greatly improving our understanding of the history of infectious diseases. However, the survival of pathogen DNA over long time periods is poorly characterized, and scepticism remains about the reliability of these data. In order to explore the survival of bacterial pathogen DNA in bone specimens, we analysed samples from 59 eighteenth and twentieth century individuals known to have been infected with either Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Treponema pallidum. No reproducible evidence of surviving pathogen DNA was obtained, despite the use of extraction and PCR-amplification methods determined to be highly sensitive. These data suggest that previous studies need to be interpreted with caution, and we propose that a much greater emphasis is placed on understanding how pathogen DNA survives in archaeological material, and how its presence can be properly verified and used.
从考古骨骼标本中获得细菌病原体DNA序列的报告，提高了大幅增进我们对传染病历史理解的可能性。然而，病原体DNA在长时间内的存活情况却鲜有描述，人们对这些数据的可靠性仍持怀疑态度。为了探究细菌病原体DNA在骨骼标本中的存活情况，我们分析了来自59名18世纪和20世纪个体的样本，这些个体已知感染了结核分枝杆菌或梅毒螺旋体。尽管使用了被确定为高度敏感的提取和PCR扩增方法，但未获得存活病原体DNA的可重复证据。这些数据表明，先前的研究需要谨慎解读，我们建议应更加重视了解病原体DNA如何在考古材料中存活，以及如何对其存在进行恰当验证和利用。
