Ancient DNA from Ascaris: extraction amplification and sequences from eggs collected in coprolites

On the Middle-Age site of Namur (Belgium) the analysis of coprolites revealed the presence of many well-preserved Ascaris eggs. Following rehydratation of the coprolite samples, 104 eggs were collected and extracted with an ultrasonication and phenol-chloroform based method. Three overlapping fragme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	International journal for parasitology Vol. 31; no. 10; pp. 1101 - 1106
Main Authors:	Loreille, Odile, Roumat, Emmanuelle, Verneau, Olivier, Bouchet, Françoise, Hänni, Catherine
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2001 Elsevier Science Elsevier
Subjects:	Ancient DNA Animals Ascaris Ascaris - genetics Base Sequence Belgium Biochemistry. Physiology. Immunology. Molecular biology Biological and medical sciences Cytochrome b Group - chemistry Cytochrome b Group - genetics DNA, Helminth - chemistry DNA, Helminth - genetics DNA, Helminth - isolation & purification Feces - parasitology Fossils Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Helminths Invertebrates Life Sciences Molecular Sequence Data Nemathelminthia. Plathelmintha Paleoparasitology Paleopathology Paleopathology - methods Physiology. Development Polymerase Chain Reaction RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - chemistry RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - isolation & purification Sequence Alignment Sequence Analysis, DNA Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid Belgium Europe Ancient DNA Helminths Paleoparasitology Ascaris Paleopathology Egg Nucleotide sequence Parasite Parasitosis 18S-RNA Helminthiasis Coprolith Paleontology Infection Amplification Ascariasis Cytochrome b DNA Nematode disease Helmintha Nemathelminthia Extraction Invertebrata Nematoda
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Summary:	On the Middle-Age site of Namur (Belgium) the analysis of coprolites revealed the presence of many well-preserved Ascaris eggs. Following rehydratation of the coprolite samples, 104 eggs were collected and extracted with an ultrasonication and phenol-chloroform based method. Three overlapping fragments of the 18S rRNA gene and one fragment of the cytochrome b gene have been reproducibly amplified, cloned and sequenced. The analysis of these sequences confirms the identification of the eggs as coming from Ascaris. Our study reveals that coprolites can be an interesting source of parasites that can be readily identified using molecular approaches. The study of ancient DNA from helminth parasites is of interest as it may answer long-standing questions in the history of infectious diseases and gives a possibility to compare these ancient sequences with those of modern populations.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0020-7519 1879-0135
DOI:	10.1016/S0020-7519(01)00214-4