No worries...and again, thanks for the post! :)

Hi! I am the first author of the paper and I am flattered you wrote about it. I wanted to let you know that my first name is wrong in your post. It's Biancamaria, not Beatrice.
Let me know if you can solve the issue :)

♥️♥️♥️

Thank you so much!!🥰

Congraaats 🥳🔥

This study underscores the value of exploring diverse substrates in the search for preserved biomolecules. By showing that microbial DNA and proteins can survive in these overlooked deposits, our research highlights how different surfaces and contexts influence preservation. 🪨

Palaeoproteomic analysis of the same samples confirmed the preservation of proteins from the very same oral microbiome species detected through DNA. This demonstrates the power of combining aDNA and protein analysis to build a more complete picture of ancient biological substrates.👩‍🔬➕

We manage to reconstruct two complete Anaerolinaceae bacterium oral taxon 439 genomes. Phylogenetic placement demonstrates their affinity with other contemporary Italian strains, falling in a well-defined clade containing Bronze age and Neolithic strains!

The concretions and the original human elements lacked endogenous human aDNA, limiting their utility for human-specific molecular analyses. Despite this, the sediment concretions contained high-quality ancient oral microbial genomes 🦠🧬

We extracted ancient DNA and proteins in tandem from both the human dental remains and the adhered concretions. We then compared the results to additional non concreted skeletal samples for context.

These concretions are commonly found on archaeological human remains in certain regions (e.g., Neolithic Puglia), yet they've largely been overlooked as a potential source of molecular data—until now.