| Title: |
A molecular portrait of maternal sepsis from Byzantine Troy |
| Authors: |
Devault, Alison M; Mortimer, Tatum D; Kitchen, Andrew; Kiesewetter, Henrike; Enk, Jacob M; Golding, G Brian; Southon, John; Kuch, Melanie; Duggan, Ana T; Aylward, William; Gardner, Shea N; Allen, Jonathan E; King, Andrew M; Wright, Gerard; Kuroda, Makoto; Kato, Kengo; Briggs, Derek EG; Fornaciari, Gino; Holmes, Edward C; Poinar, Hendrik N; Pepperell, Caitlin S |
| Contributors: |
Canada Research Chairs; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; National Institutes of Health; National Science Foundation; McMaster University; University of Wisconsin-Madison; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation |
| Source: |
eLife ; volume 6 ; ISSN 2050-084X |
| Publisher Information: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
| Publication Year: |
2017 |
| Collection: |
eLife (E-Journal - via CrossRef) |
| Description: |
Pregnancy complications are poorly represented in the archeological record, despite their importance in contemporary and ancient societies. While excavating a Byzantine cemetery in Troy, we discovered calcified abscesses among a woman’s remains. Scanning electron microscopy of the tissue revealed ‘ghost cells’, resulting from dystrophic calcification, which preserved ancient maternal, fetal and bacterial DNA of a severe infection, likely chorioamnionitis. Gardnerella vaginalis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus dominated the abscesses. Phylogenomic analyses of ancient, historical, and contemporary data showed that G. vaginalis Troy fell within contemporary genetic diversity, whereas S. saprophyticus Troy belongs to a lineage that does not appear to be commonly associated with human disease today. We speculate that the ecology of S. saprophyticus infection may have differed in the ancient world as a result of close contacts between humans and domesticated animals. These results highlight the complex and dynamic interactions with our microbial milieu that underlie severe maternal infections. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.7554/elife.20983 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.20983; https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/20983/elife-20983-v1.pdf; https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/20983/elife-20983-v1.xml; https://elifesciences.org/articles/20983 |
| Rights: |
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ; http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ; http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.E46FBAF3 |
| Database: |
BASE |