Santiago-Rodriguez Tasha M, Fornaciari Gino, Luciani Stefania, Toranzos Gary A, Marota Isolina, Giuffra Valentina, Cano Raul J
Center for Applications in Biotechnology, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA.
Department of Biology, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2017 Nov 7;8(11):310. doi: 10.3390/genes8110310.
Little is still known about the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut. In the present study, the gut microbiota, genes associated with metabolism, and putative resistome of Inca and Italian nobility mummies were characterized by using high-throughput sequencing. The Italian nobility mummies exhibited a higher bacterial diversity as compared to the Inca mummies when using 16S ribosomal (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing, but both groups showed bacterial and fungal taxa when using shotgun metagenomic sequencing that may resemble both the thanatomicrobiome and extant human gut microbiomes. Identification of sequences associated with plants, animals, and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) may provide further insights into the dietary habits of Inca and Italian nobility mummies. Putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca and Italian nobility mummies support a human gut resistome prior to the antibiotic therapy era. The higher proportion of putative antibiotic-resistance genes in the Inca compared to Italian nobility mummies may support the hypotheses that a greater exposure to the environment may result in a greater acquisition of antibiotic-resistance genes. The present study adds knowledge of the microbiome resulting from the process of mummification of the human gut, insights of ancient dietary habits, and the preserved putative human gut resistome prior the antibiotic therapy era.
关于人类肠道木乃伊化过程中产生的微生物群，目前仍知之甚少。在本研究中，通过高通量测序对印加和意大利贵族木乃伊的肠道微生物群、与代谢相关的基因以及假定的耐药基因组进行了表征。使用16S核糖体（rRNA）基因扩增子测序时，意大利贵族木乃伊的细菌多样性高于印加木乃伊，但使用鸟枪法宏基因组测序时，两组均显示出细菌和真菌分类群，这可能类似于尸体微生物群和现存人类肠道微生物群。鉴定与植物、动物和碳水化合物活性酶（CAZyme）相关的序列，可能会为印加和意大利贵族木乃伊的饮食习惯提供进一步的见解。印加和意大利贵族木乃伊中的假定抗生素抗性基因，支持了抗生素治疗时代之前存在人类肠道耐药基因组的观点。与意大利贵族木乃伊相比，印加木乃伊中假定抗生素抗性基因的比例更高，这可能支持以下假设：更多地接触环境可能导致获得更多的抗生素抗性基因。本研究增加了对人类肠道木乃伊化过程中产生的微生物群的了解、对古代饮食习惯的认识，以及抗生素治疗时代之前保存下来的假定人类肠道耐药基因组的信息。
