Do I have something in my teeth? The trouble with genetic analyses of diet from archaeological dental calculus

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dc.contributor.authorMann, Allison E.
dc.contributor.authorFellows Yates, James A.
dc.contributor.authorFagernäs, Zandra
dc.contributor.authorAustin, Rita M.
dc.contributor.authorNelson, Elizabeth A.
dc.contributor.authorHofman, Courtney A.
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-03T19:57:48Z
dc.date.available2020-12-03T19:57:48Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractDental calculus and other preserved microbiome substrates are an attractive target for dietary reconstruction in past populations through a variety of physical, chemical, and molecular means. Recently, studies have attempted to reconstruct diet from archaeological dental calculus using archaeogenetic techniques. While dental calculus may provide a relatively stable environment for DNA preservation, the detection of plants and animals possibly consumed by an individual through DNA analysis is primarily hindered by microbial richness and incomplete reference databases. Moreover, high genomic similarity within eukaryotic groups - such as mammals - can obfuscate precise taxonomic identification. In the current study we demonstrate the challenges associated with accurate taxonomic identification and authentication of dietary taxa in ancient DNA data using both synthetic and ancient dental calculus datasets. We highlight common errors and sources of contamination across ancient DNA datasets, provide recommendations for dietary DNA validation, and call for caution in the interpretation of diet from dental calculus and other archaeological microbiome substrates.en_US
dc.description.peerreviewYesen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipJ.A.F.Y. was partially funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research innovation programme (ERC-2015-StG 678901-FoodTransforms to Philipp W. Stockhammer, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany). Z.F. was supported by the Werner Siemens Stiftung through Dr. Christina Warinner. This research was supported in part through computational resources provided by the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (J.A.F.Y).en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.019en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11244/326577
dc.languageen_USen_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectDieten_US
dc.subjectDental calculusen_US
dc.subjectMetagenomicsen_US
dc.subjectAncient DNAen_US
dc.titleDo I have something in my teeth? The trouble with genetic analyses of diet from archaeological dental calculusen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
ou.groupCollege of Arts and Sciences::Department of Anthropologyen_US

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