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International audience; Research of ancient pathogens in ancient human skeletons has been mainly carried out on the basis of one essential historical or archaeological observation, permitting specific pathogens to be targeted. Detection of ancient human pathogens without such evidence is more difficult, since the quantity and quality of ancient DNA, as well as the environmental bacteria potentially present in the sample, limit the analyses possible. Using human lung tissue and/or teeth samples from burials in eastern Siberia, dating from the end of 17(th) to the 19(th) century, we propose a methodology that includes the: 1) amplification of all 16S rDNA gene sequences present in each sample; 2) identification of all bacterial DNA sequences with a degree of identity ≥ 95%, according to quality criteria; 3) identification and confirmation of bacterial pathogens by the amplification of the rpoB gene; and 4) establishment of authenticity criteria for ancient DNA. This study demonstrates that from teeth samples originating from ancient human subjects, we can realise: 1) the correct identification of bacterial molecular sequence signatures by quality criteria; 2) the separation of environmental and pathogenic bacterial 16S rDNA sequences; 3) the distribution of bacterial species for each subject and for each burial; and 4) the characterisation of bacteria specific to the permafrost. Moreover, we identified three pathogens in different teeth samples by 16S rDNA sequence amplification: Bordetella sp., Streptococcus pneumoniae and Shigella dysenteriae. We tested for the presence of these pathogens by amplifying the rpoB gene. For the first time, we confirmed sequences from Bordetella pertussis in the lungs of an ancient male Siberian subject, whose grave dated from the end of the 17(th) century to the early 18(th) century.

For anthropologists, Central Asia and Eastern Siberia represent a unique case study for two reasons. On one hand, Siberia is a key area for the understanding of the admixture between east eurasian and west eurasian populations through history, and for the reconstruction of the peopling of America and the Northern areas at different periods. On the other hand, the very harsh climatic conditions are favourable to the preservation of ancient DNA in skeletal remains. An interdisciplinary approach that compares past and modern populations in their two components, biology and culture, can therefore be considered. The present communication relates the studies we have carried out for the last 4 years in Yakutia and Buriatia. These studies are ongoing. Here we focus on the contribution of genetic data for the reconstruction of the history of past migrations and admixture of siberian populations.; L'Asie centrale et la Sibérie orientale constituent du point de vue anthropologique un terrain unique pour deux raisons. La première est qu'il s'agit d'une aire clé pour la compréhension de l'histoire des échanges entre populations eurasiatiques, et aussi pour la reconstruction de l'histoire du peuplement de l'Amérique et des régions du nord à différentes périodes. La seconde, c'est que les conditions climatiques exceptionnelles assurent une conservation remarquable de l'ADN dans les restes osseux. Il est alors possible de développer une approche pluridisciplinaire comparant les populations du passé et les populations vivantes dans leur double composante, " biologie et culture ". Nous proposons ici de présenter les travaux que nous menons depuis 4 ans en Yakoutie et en Bouriatie. Nous illustrerons ainsi l'apport des données de l'anthropologie génétique à la reconstitution de l'histoire des migrations et des échanges entre populations sibériennes.

International audience; Central Asia has been a zone of contact between Asian and European travellers since the beginning of the XXth century for anthropologist and as far back as the middle ages for travellers. With new archaeological data and extended collaborations between European, Siberian and Chinese researchers, the area of contact is now thought to have been much larger, encompassing the entire zone of Central Asia, south Siberia and the peri-Baikal area. Nowadays, it seems, in fact, that central Asia was only an extension of an initial zone delimited by what we call the Altaï/Baïkal spatial complex, originally a natural border and a zone of admixture between people from Asia in the south, and from Siberia in the north. Understanding the peopling of this spatial complex in relation to adjacent areas is of special interest for the study of European, Asian and American populations. In this paper, we discuss the maternal population history of this spatial complex by re-analyzing mt DNA data from modern populations at the haplogroup frequencies level and rather than the molecular level. This approach allows to apply original statistical analyses that offer a global view of the processes that shaped the population differentiation in Siberia.

International audience; We extracted DNA from three skeletons belonging to the Yakut population, which were excavated from the At-Dabaan site (dating back 300 years) in the Sakha Republic (Russia). Ancient DNA was analyzed by autosomal STRs (short tandem repeats) and by the sequencing of the hypervariable region 1 (HV1) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region. The results showed that these three skeletons were not close relatives but probably linked to the same clan structure. Comparison of their haplotypes with the haplotypes of 8,774 Eurasian individuals suggested a relative specificity and continuity of part of the Yakut mitochondrial gene pool during the last 3 centuries.