Exploring the Pathogen Profiles of Ancient Feces.

Area of Science:

• Paleomicrobiology
• Ancient DNA analysis
• Molecular diagnostics

Background:

• Paleofeces (ancient feces) analysis provides insights into ancient human lives and health.
• Previous methods for pathogen detection in paleofeces were limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply modern molecular tools to detect enteric pathogens in ancient feces from Mexico.
• To assess the efficacy of PCR-based methods for paleofeces analysis.

Main Methods:

• DNA extraction from desiccated fecal samples (725-920 CE) collected from the Rio Zape Valley, Mexico.
• Utilized Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) pre-amplification followed by multi-parallel quantitative PCR (qPCR) to detect 30 enteric pathogens.
• Analyzed ten paleofeces samples for the presence of specific pathogen-associated genes.

Main Results:

• Each of the ten paleofeces samples contained genes associated with at least one enteric pathogen.
• An average of 3.9 pathogens were detected per sample.
• First-time detection of Blastocystis spp., atypical enteropathogenic E. coli, enterotoxigenic E. coli, Shigella spp./enteroinvasive E. coli, and E. coli O157:H7 in paleofeces using molecular methods.

Conclusions:

• Modern molecular tools, particularly PCR, are highly effective for detecting a wide range of enteric pathogens in ancient fecal material.
• This study expands the repertoire of detectable pathogens in paleofeces, offering a more comprehensive view of ancient health and disease.
• The findings support the use of sensitive molecular techniques for future paleomicrobiological investigations.