What did #ancient #viral #ecosystems look like? 🦠🧬 Sedimentary #aDNA from lakes and oceans reveals 2,000+ viral taxa and shows how #virus–host interactions changed from the #Pleistocene to today.
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #sedaDNA
What did #cave #bears eat? 🐻 It seems that diet wasn’t shaped by #genetics, sex, or #environment. Instead, #ancient #DNA 🧬 + #isotopes suggest individuals learned their own #foraging strategies.
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
Ancient #DNA 🧬 uncovers hidden diversity in #treponemal disease. A 5,500-year-old #genome from Colombia reveals a previously unknown T. pallidum lineage 🦠, reshaping our understanding of its early #evolution.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
Straight-tusked #elephants once roamed across #Eurasia, but one lineage became stranded in Japan?! 🐘🧬 Ancient #mtDNA reveals Palaeoloxodon naumanni as an early-diverging lineage that survived in island isolation.
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #palaeogenetics #ancientDNA
It's #MetagenomicsMonday again! 🧬🧬🧬Ancient #HHV-6 #genomes revealed that modern HHV-6 diversity was already established centuries ago and that germline integrations stem from ancient founder events.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#SPAAM #aDNA #sixthdisease #roseola #pathogens #viruses #evolution
Ancient DNA 🧬 from a 1,700-year-old Tashtyk funerary mannequin reveals lost plant biodiversity 🌾in southern Siberia, highlighting the conservation value of this UNESCO-listed region.
doi.org/10.1186/s128...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #conservation #ecology #biodiversity
Ancient walnuts 🌰 tell a Silk Road story! Genome-wide data 🧬 from Tang Dynasty Xinjiang walnuts reveal a transitional genetic stage linking Central Asia and China in a new study published in Cell Reports.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #ancientDNA #silkroad #paleobotany
Recovering Mycobacterium tuberculosis 🦠 from ancient samples is notoriously difficult. But, in this new study, the elusive M. tuberculosis DNA was detected in five individuals from medieval Ireland.
doi.org/10.1016/j.tu...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #tuberculosis #TB #pathogen
The Altai wasn’t just home to Denisovans. 🏔️🧬Ancient DNA revealed unexpected bovine diversity 🦬, including a mysterious yak-like lineage (yak "X") now seemingly lost to time.
academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...
#MetagenomicsMonday #ancientDNA #aDNA #paleogenomics #zooarchaeology #denisovacave #altai
How and when did domestic cats conquer the world? 🐈 The aDNA study recently published in Science tells a fascinating story about the human-mediated dispersal of our purring furry friends.
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #cats #zooarcheology #domestication
Check out this new paper on the inter-species admixture 🧬 within an extinct and yummy-sounding avian species 🦜 - the honeycreeper! 🍯
doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics #museumscience #avian #honeycreeper
Dreaming of a de novo assembly of your pesky short ancient sequences? 🧬 A new tool, CarpeDeam, may just help your dreams come true. 🧬🖥️
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#MetagenomicsMonday #ancientDNA #aDNA #paleogenomics #bioinformatics
Starting 2026 strong with the first #MetagenomicsMonday 🧬post this year! Its 1976, deer remains are found in a Toronto subway and its antlers look.. well, different! 🦌 Is it an extinct megafauna species that disappeared by the end of ice age?📄
doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
#SPAAM #aDNA #paleogenomics
What really devastated Napoleon’s army in 1812? ⚔️🧬 A new study uncovers DNA of previously unsuspected pathogens: Salmonella Paratyphi C and Borrelia recurrentis in the teeth of fallen soldiers.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #pathogens #fever #Napoleon
aDNA from 14 Roman cattle uncovers Group I Clostridium related to toxigenic botulinum producers and an opportunistic Mycolicibacterium. 🐂🧬 Blind spot in ancient livestock health studies?
doi.org/10.1080/2150...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #bioarchaeology #pathogens
What can ancient poop reveal about past health? 💩🧬 Paleofeces from 725–920 CE Mexico show multiple gut pathogens, including Blastocystis, Giardia, Entamoeba, and pathogenic E. coli. Enteric infections were likely common.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #paleofeces #pathogens
Recovering DNA from ancient plants is tough, but this new method makes it work! A new extraction workflow improves recovery of fragmented endogenous plant aDNA while preserving library complexity and read yield.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #archaeobotany
Ancient microbe DNA as a record of climate change 🦠🧬: mountain lake sedaDNA from the past 430 years reveals major microbial shifts since 1960, following climate shifts.
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
#MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #climate #change #metagenomics #sediment #sedaDNA #mountain #lake
How much do lab methods shape ancient microbiome results? 🧬 This study compares extraction & library prep protocols on dental calculus from Hungary and Niger, showing that no single workflow fits all. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #calculus #microbiome
doi.org/10.1111/1755...
This new study takes a closer look at eukaryotic reference genomes. 🧬 By mapping microbial-like regions across thousands of plant & animal assemblies, it helps make ancient eDNA analyses more accurate. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #metagenomics #eDNA
doi.org/10.1093/giga...
A new study links the Harbin cranium to Denisovans using DNA hidden in dental calculus. 🦷🧬 The mtDNA connects to Siberian lineages and suggests Denisovans spread widely across Pleistocene Asia. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #Denisovan #archaic #mtDNA #calculus
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
In this new paper, researchers extended the sedaDNA analysis beyond cave sediments: bone-adhered deposits preserved human, microbial, plant & animal sequences. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #sedaDNA #metagenomics #cave #sediment
A new study explores the secrets hidden in concretions coating ancient teeth. 🦷 The researchers found microbial & protein traces, but human DNA remains elusive… #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #proteomics #metagenomics
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
Proteomics + aDNA from a Jerash mass grave recovered Y. pestis genomes in 5 individuals. 🧬 Near-identical strains confirm a single lineage outbreak & place First Pandemic Y. pestis DNA near its historical epicenter. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA #plague #proteomics
doi.org/10.3390/gene...
What affects aDNA recovery from dental calculus? 🦷📊 In 32 mammal species, library success (~74%) was possibly shaped by host diet. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
What lived in Arctic Norway ~80,000 years ago? ❄️🦌 Ancient sediments from a cave reveal 46 taxa of mammals, birds & fish — a unique cold-adapted coastal ecosystem. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Did prehistoric sheep carry plague? 🐑🦠 A 3rd-millennium BCE Yersinia pestis genome from domesticated sheep links livestock to human infections in prehistory. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
What can a million-year-old mammoth teach us about microbes? 🦠 From pathogens to commensals, this new study reconstructs the oldest known host-associated microbial DNA. #MetagenomicsMonday #SPAAM #aDNA
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
#MetagenomicsMonday A new study shares 174 archaeological dental calculus metagenomes from across the UK, spanning multiple periods. With rich metadata and rigorous quality control, the dataset opens new doors to exploring ancient microbiome through time.
doi.org/10.1016/j.di...
#MetagenomicsMonday Are you interested in ancient microbiome and sedaDNA? Check out wholeskim - new fast and efficient pipeline that uses unassembled genome skims to index and query k-mers for taxonomic annotation of environmental DNA.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
