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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
- 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.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
cold case
Male
metagenomics
human microbiome
next generation sequencing
History, 18th Century
lcsh:Chemistry
Cause of Death
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Lack of knowledge
Child
lcsh:QH301-705.5
Spectroscopy
Laser capture microdissection
Cause of death
Genetics
Microbiota
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Osteomyelitis
General Medicine
Computer Science Applications
Actinobacteria
Genotype
Firmicutes
Laser Capture Microdissection
Biology
Catalysis
DNA sequencing
Article
Bone and Bones
Inorganic Chemistry
03 medical and health sciences
Pseudomonas
Proteobacteria
Humans
Pseudomonas Infections
Microbiome
Typing
metagenomic
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Molecular Biology
Genotyping
Male gender
Bacteroidetes
Organic Chemistry
030104 developmental biology
lcsh:Biology (General)
lcsh:QD1-999
Evolutionary biology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14220067
- Volume :
- 18
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2f3bf4611bd9fc819bfc2bb04434f4b1