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The Cause of Death of a Child in the 18th Century Solved by Bone Microbiome Typing Using Laser Microdissection and Next Generation Sequencing

Authors :
Giorgio Casaburi
Vincenza Precone
Paolina Cavalcanti
Gaetano De Rosa
Giancarlo Troncone
Iolanda Coto
Umberto Malapelle
Marielva Torino
Lucia Sacchetti
Francesco Salvatore
Maria Valeria Esposito
Valeria D'Argenio
Laura Iaffaldano
D'Argenio, Valeria
Torino, Marielva
Precone, Vincenza
Casaburi, Giorgio
Esposito, MARIA VALERIA
Iaffaldano, Laura
Malapelle, Umberto
Troncone, Giancarlo
Coto, Iolanda
Cavalcanti, Paolina
DE ROSA, Gaetano
Salvatore, Francesco
Sacchetti, Lucia
Source :
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, International Journal of Molecular Sciences; Volume 18; Issue 1; Pages: 109, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol 18, Iss 1, p 109 (2017)
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
MDPI, 2017.

Abstract

The history of medicine abounds in cases of mysterious deaths, especially by infectious diseases, which were probably unresolved because of the lack of knowledge and of appropriate technology. The aim of this study was to exploit contemporary technologies to try to identify the cause of death of a young boy who died from a putative “infection” at the end of the 18th century, and for whom an extraordinarily well-preserved minute bone fragment was available. After confirming the nature of the sample, we used laser microdissection to select the most “informative” area to be examined. Tissue genotyping indicated male gender, thereby confirming the notary’s report. 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing showed that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were more abundant than Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, and that Pseudomonas was the most abundant bacterial genus in the Pseudomonadaceae family. These data suggest that the patient most likely died from Pseudomonas osteomyelitis. This case is an example of how new technological approaches, like laser microdissection and next-generation sequencing, can resolve ancient cases of uncertain etiopathology. Lastly, medical samples may contain a wealth of information that may not be accessible until more sophisticated technology becomes available. Therefore, one may envisage the possibility of systematically storing medical samples for evaluation by future generations.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14220067
Volume :
18
Issue :
1
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....2f3bf4611bd9fc819bfc2bb04434f4b1