Image Austria, circa 800– 450 BC. An Iron Age miner culls salt in the ancient mine shafts of Hallstatt in the Eastern Austrian Alps. He nears completion of his lunch break, satiated by a hearty meal of grains and legumes, with a side of nuts and a few bites of salt-cured beef. His work buddy offers him a swig of his most current batch of beer. The miner chases it down with a bite of his colleagues homemade blue cheese and a handful of berries. He gets up, stretches, grabs his pickaxe, and returns to labor in the cold mine, unaware that this was his last meal. Just as his pickaxe strikes salt with a clink, an unearthly rumble passes through him and the tunnel collapses.Two centuries later on, in 1734, miners found a mummified body embedded in a saline tomb, practically completely maintained by the salt, with littles clothes and shoes undamaged. They gave him a correct burial near Lake Hallstatt and he ended up being a central figure in local folklore, understood passionately as the “Man in the Salt.” 1 While he did not purposefully contribute his body to science, he left a little something behind for posterity: a goldmine of info for modern-day scientists who have actually advanced technical tools for studying the biomolecules in preserved ancient specimens. Nearly three a century after the Man in the Salts desiccated body was found, scientists gathered preserved samples of ancient feces coming from his contemporaries from the Hallstatt salt mines. In a just recently published study, their distinct approach to evaluating the dietary practices and gut microbiomes of human forefathers showed the relationship between Westernized diets and the loss of gut microbial variety, along with the implications for treating contemporary illness by bring back the ancient gut microbiome.Hidden Secrets of Mummified Microbes Frank Maixner, a microbiologist at the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy, and his coworkers took a look at these paleofecal samples and reported their findings in the journal Current Biology. In this research study, Maixners team performed microscopic, metagenomic, and proteomic analyses of paleofeces to identify the nutritional habits and gut microbiomes of ancient European miners.2 “Ancient tissues, [consisting of] museum specimens, still carry endogenous biomolecules [such as] proteins, DNA, and lipids,” Maixner described. Integrating radiocarbon dating of a specimen with endogenous biomolecule analysis “opens a window into the past [to] ask evolutionary concerns.”Maixner and his multidisciplinary group analyzed four paleofeces samples: one from the Bronze Age (1301-1121 BC), 2 from the Iron Age (650-545 BC), and one from the Baroque duration (1720-1783 AD). They discovered that Hallstatt miners from the Iron Age took in an unprocessed fibrous diet plan abundant in entire grains, which they supplemented with fruits, nuts, beans, animal protein, and fermented foods such as blue cheese and beer. The latter came as a surprise when a fungal analysis of among the Iron Age samples showed considerable levels of Penicillium roqueforti and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast that ferment blue cheese and beer, respectively.The paleofeces samples also included bacterial types such as Lactobacillus ruminis, Catenibacterium mitsuokai, and Prevotella copri, similar to the microbiomes of modern-day human beings who consume unprocessed foods. On the other hand, Westernized diet plans contribute to a loss of gut microbiome diversity.3 The resemblance between the microbiome of the paleofecal sample from the Baroque duration in the 1700s and that of contemporary non-Westernized guts suggests that the loss of microbial variety related to industrialized diets happened quite rapidly. “If youre discussing centuries,” Maixner stated, “its really astonishing to see such [fast] loss of variety in our gut microbiome.”Maixner pointed out that a high-fiber, carbohydrate-rich diet plan may buffer against the loss in abundance and diversity of specific microbial species. For instance, in contrast to Westernized guts, modern non-Westernized guts house 4 variations of the bacterial strain Prevotella copri, each of which has an unique job in degrading complex carbohydrates.4 Similarly, the microbial signature of the ancient paleofeces samples brought these four versions. Paleofecal Time Capsule The consistently low year-round temperature level and high salt concentration in the mines trigger fast desiccation of the paleofeces, which might preserve endogenous biomolecules by reducing hydrolytic damage. Kevin Daly, a research fellow at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics and Trinity College Dublin who was not included in this work, described that “salt crystals produce microenvironments with little water, as water molecules highly connect with positively-charged ions in salt. This would hinder water molecules from engaging with DNA, decreasing deamination, and promoting DNA conservation.” In this sense, mummified paleofeces serve as mini time capsules, supplying a rare glance into the guts and lives of our ancestors. One of the biggest difficulties in studying ancient microbiomes is validating that the microorganisms are endogenous to the sample rather than the environment. To accomplish this, Maixner and his coworkers compared metabolic and microbial path abundance of the paleofeces samples to more than 800 modern metagenomes and searched for resemblance to soil, mouth, and non-Westernized lifestyle samples. According to Maixner, the desiccated paleofeces “pills,” for factors that are still unclear, are less susceptible to penetration by soil germs. All 4 of the paleofecal samples varied from the soil samples, suggesting that soil contamination was unlikely.In one sample, Maixner and his coworkers recognized salt-loving Halococcus morrhuae, an extremophile that makes it through high salinity, however does not normally connect with the human gut. Daly discussed that H. morrhuae was likely presented as a contaminant connected with salt crystals from the environment. “This was the only stool sample that was exempt to damp sieving, a process for separating great and coarse particle product.” He added that “the extreme salinity would show toxic to lots of typical soil microbes, and extremophiles themselves might not be adapted to make use of the natural matter of stool, possibly causing little extremophile intrusion into the paleofeces.” Goldmine of InformationMaixner and his associates likewise found enough maintained endogenous human DNA in the paleofeces; more analysis revealed that all 4 samples came from males. Could one of those samples have come from the Man in the Salt? According to Maixner, the geographical area and time period match, so its theoretically possible. He discussed that if he and his team had access to the Man in the Salts remains, they could compare his genetic material to the human DNA in the paleofeces. If they matched, Maixner said, “we might discover the person who dropped this paleofeces.” In the meantime, he and his group want to broaden the findings of the current study by evaluating a bigger variety of paleofecal samples from the salt mines, comparing them to modern-day samples, and screening for the presence of lipids and other metabolites. “Weve really just touched the surface so far.”This work has broad implications for comprehending the role of gut microorganisms in health and disease. Researchers continue to find new connections between existing consuming routines, the microorganisms that live in human guts, and our vulnerability to disease,5 however the gut microbiome of modern-day humans provides a limited photo along our evolutionary journey. “While limited in the number of samples, the study is an exceptional example of what multi-disciplinary work can expose about the lives of neighborhoods in the past,” Daly stated. Details about ancient human gut microbiomes informs our understanding of how the shift to a modernized Western diet plan modified our microbiome. This is particularly pertinent provided the growing interest in microbiome-directed treatments for different illness,6 consisting of cancer and contagious, metabolic, inflammatory, and heart diseases, which have actually sky-rocketed in modern times.As scientists continue to study the loss of microbial variety in Westernized human guts, the present study provides a special perspective on the evolutionary history of our microbiome and the potential for restoring the ancient microbial signature of our guts to improve health. Offered the similarities in between the ancient human microbiome which of contemporary non-Westernized diet plans, restoring microbial variety may be easier than we think.References”The male in the salt,” Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, https://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/jart/prj3/nhm/main.jart?rel=hallstatt_en&content-id=1401791304527 Accessed 07 January 2022. F. Maixner et al., “Hallstatt miners consumed blue cheese and beer throughout the Iron Age and maintained a non-Westernized gut microbiome up until the Baroque duration,” Curr Biol, 31( 23 ):5149 -62, 2021. N. Segata, “Gut microbiome: westernization and the disappearance of intestinal tract diversity,” Curr Biol, 25( 14 ):611 -13, 2015.H. Fehlner-Peach et al., “Distinct polysaccharide usage profiles of human intestinal Prevotella copri isolates,” Cell Host Microbe, 26( 5 ):680 -90, 2019. R.D. Hills et al., “Gut microbiome: extensive implications for diet and disease,” Nutrients, 11( 7 ):1613, 2019. D.A. Schupack et al., “The pledge of the gut microbiome as part of personalized treatment methods,” Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol, 19( 1 ):7 -25, 2021.
In contrast, Westernized diets contribute to a loss of gut microbiome diversity.3 The resemblance in between the microbiome of the paleofecal sample from the Baroque duration in the 1700s and that of modern non-Westernized guts recommends that the loss of microbial variety associated with industrialized diet plans took place rather quickly. All 4 of the paleofecal samples differed from the soil samples, suggesting that soil contamination was unlikely.In one sample, Maixner and his associates identified salt-loving Halococcus morrhuae, an extremophile that endures high salinity, but does not typically associate with the human gut. Researchers continue to discover brand-new connections in between existing consuming routines, the microbes that live in human guts, and our susceptibility to disease,5 however the gut microbiome of modern people offers a minimal picture along our evolutionary journey. Information about ancient human gut microbiomes informs our understanding of how the transition to a modernized Western diet changed our microbiome. F. Maixner et al., “Hallstatt miners consumed blue cheese and beer throughout the Iron Age and maintained a non-Westernized gut microbiome up until the Baroque period,” Curr Biol, 31( 23 ):5149 -62, 2021.