Unraveling the ancient fungal DNA from the Iceman gut
We suggest that Ötzi may have consumed these fungi accidentally, likely in association with other elements of his diet, and they persisted in his gut after his death due to their adaptability to harsh and cold environments. This suggests the potential co-occurrence of ancient humans with opportunistic fungal species and proposes and validates a conservative bioinformatic approach for detecting and authenticating fungal aDNA in historical metagenomic samples.
Authors
- Luigimaria Borruso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7445-3454)
- Laura Zucconi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9793-2303)
- Benedetta Turchetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-3028)
- Tanja Mimmo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2375-8370)
- Anders Götherström (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8579-1304)
- Pietro Buzzini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6793-0606)
- Nikolay Oskolkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5326-8893)
- Fabiana Canini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9626-6318)
- Anna Sandionigi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5257-0027)
Institutions
- Università degli Studi della Tuscia (IT)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (IT)
- Lund University (SE)
- University of Perugia (IT)
- Science for Life Laboratory (SE)
- Centre for Palaeogenetics (SE)
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Genomics
- Published
- 2024-12-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-11123-2
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Paleopathology and ancient diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.85
Funders
- Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
- Libera Università di Bolzano
- Science for Life Laboratory