Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

Irina M. Velsko; Zandra Fagernäs; Monica Tromp; Stuart Bedford; Hallie R. Buckley; Geoffrey Clark; John Dudgeon; James Flexner; Jean Christophe Galipaud; Rebecca Kinaston; Cecil M. Lewis; Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith; Kathrin Nägele; Andrew T. Ozga; Cosimo Posth; Adam B. Rohrlach; Richard Shing; Truman Simanjuntak; Matthew Spriggs; Anatauarii Tamarii; Frédérique Valentin; Edson Willie; Christina Warinner

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-53920-z

Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

Irina M. Velsko
, Zandra Fagernäs
, Monica Tromp
, Stuart Bedford
, Hallie R. Buckley
, Geoffrey Clark
, John Dudgeon
, James Flexner
, Jean Christophe Galipaud
, Rebecca Kinaston
, Cecil M. Lewis
, Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith
, Kathrin Nägele
, Andrew T. Ozga
, Cosimo Posth
, Adam B. Rohrlach
, Richard Shing
, Truman Simanjuntak
, Matthew Spriggs
, Anatauarii Tamarii

Frédérique Valentin, Edson Willie, Christina Warinner

Department of Biological Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Pacific islands and Island Southeast Asia have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of ancient microbiomes to study human migration. We perform a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 102 individuals, originating from 10 Pacific islands and 1 island in Island Southeast Asia spanning ~3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone, and comparable to that of calculus from temperate regions. Oral microbial community composition is minimally driven by time period and geography in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus, but is found to be distinctive compared to calculus from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows good preservation in tropical regions and the potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies of the human genome.

Original language	English
Article number	10191
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53920-z
State	Published - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/s41467-024-53920-z

Cite this

Velsko, I. M., Fagernäs, Z., Tromp, M., Bedford, S., Buckley, H. R., Clark, G., Dudgeon, J., Flexner, J., Galipaud, J. C., Kinaston, R., Lewis, C. M., Matisoo-Smith, E., Nägele, K., Ozga, A. T., Posth, C., Rohrlach, A. B., Shing, R., Simanjuntak, T., Spriggs, M., ... Warinner, C. (2024). Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 10191. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53920-z

Velsko, IM, Fagernäs, Z, Tromp, M, Bedford, S, Buckley, HR, Clark, G, Dudgeon, J, Flexner, J, Galipaud, JC, Kinaston, R, Lewis, CM, Matisoo-Smith, E, Nägele, K, Ozga, AT, Posth, C, Rohrlach, AB, Shing, R, Simanjuntak, T, Spriggs, M, Tamarii, A, Valentin, F, Willie, E & Warinner, C 2024, 'Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 10191. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53920-z

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title = "Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania",

abstract = "The Pacific islands and Island Southeast Asia have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of ancient microbiomes to study human migration. We perform a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 102 individuals, originating from 10 Pacific islands and 1 island in Island Southeast Asia spanning \textasciitilde{}3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone, and comparable to that of calculus from temperate regions. Oral microbial community composition is minimally driven by time period and geography in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus, but is found to be distinctive compared to calculus from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows good preservation in tropical regions and the potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies of the human genome.",

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AU - Simanjuntak, Truman

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AU - Tamarii, Anatauarii

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AU - Warinner, Christina

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AB - The Pacific islands and Island Southeast Asia have experienced multiple waves of human migrations, providing a case study for exploring the potential of ancient microbiomes to study human migration. We perform a metagenomic study of archaeological dental calculus from 102 individuals, originating from 10 Pacific islands and 1 island in Island Southeast Asia spanning ~3000 years. Oral microbiome DNA preservation in calculus is far higher than that of human DNA in archaeological bone, and comparable to that of calculus from temperate regions. Oral microbial community composition is minimally driven by time period and geography in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus, but is found to be distinctive compared to calculus from Europe, Africa, and Asia. Phylogenies of individual bacterial species in Pacific and Island Southeast Asia calculus reflect geography. Archaeological dental calculus shows good preservation in tropical regions and the potential to yield information about past human migrations, complementing studies of the human genome.

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Exploring the potential of dental calculus to shed light on past human migrations in Oceania

Abstract

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ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

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