Viruses in a 14th-century coprolite

International audience ; Coprolites are fossilized fecal material that can reveal information about ancient intestinal and environmental microbiota. Viral metagenomics has allowed systematic characterization of viral diversity in environmental and human-associated specimens, but little is known about the viral diversity in fossil remains. Here, we analyzed the viral community of a 14th-century coprolite from a closed barrel in a Middle Ages site in Belgium using electron microscopy and metagenomics. Viruses that infect eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea were detected, and we confirmed the prese... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Appelt, Sandra
Fancello, Laura
Le Bailly, Matthieu
Raoult, Didier
Drancourt, Michel
Desnues, Christelle
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
Verlag/Hrsg.: HAL CCSD
Schlagwörter: Middel Ages / Coprolites / Viruses / Eukaryotes / Belgium / [SDV.MP.PAR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Parasitology / [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory / [SHS.ANTHRO-BIO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Biological anthropology
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26979656
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://hal.science/hal-00982135

International audience ; Coprolites are fossilized fecal material that can reveal information about ancient intestinal and environmental microbiota. Viral metagenomics has allowed systematic characterization of viral diversity in environmental and human-associated specimens, but little is known about the viral diversity in fossil remains. Here, we analyzed the viral community of a 14th-century coprolite from a closed barrel in a Middle Ages site in Belgium using electron microscopy and metagenomics. Viruses that infect eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea were detected, and we confirmed the presence of some of them by ad hoc suicide PCR. The coprolite DNA viral metagenome was dominated by sequences showing homologies to phages commonly found in modern stools and soil. Although their phylogenetic compositions differed, the metabolic functions of the viral communities have remained conserved across centuries. Antibiotic resistance was one of the reconstructed metabolic functions detected.