Lipid biomarkers provide evolutionary signposts for the oldest known cases of tuberculosis

Oona Y-C Lee; Houdini H T Wu; Gurdyal S Besra; Bruce M Rothschild; Mark Spigelman; Israel Hershkovitz; Gila Kahila Bar-Gal; Helen D Donoghue; David E Minnikin

doi:10.1016/j.tube.2015.02.013

Lipid biomarkers provide evolutionary signposts for the oldest known cases of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2015 Jun:95 Suppl 1:S127-32. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2015.02.013. Epub 2015 Feb 25.

Authors

Oona Y-C Lee¹, Houdini H T Wu², Gurdyal S Besra³, Bruce M Rothschild⁴, Mark Spigelman⁵, Israel Hershkovitz⁶, Gila Kahila Bar-Gal⁷, Helen D Donoghue⁸, David E Minnikin⁹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: leeoy@bham.ac.uk.
² Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: h.wu.2@bham.ac.uk.
³ Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: g.besra@bham.ac.uk.
⁴ Biodiversity Institute and Departments of Anthropology and Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. Electronic address: bmr@ku.edu.
⁵ Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases and Ancient DNA, Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: spigelman@btinternet.com.
⁶ Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: anatom2@post.tau.ac.il.
⁷ Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. Electronic address: gila.kahila@mail.huji.ac.il.
⁸ Centres for Clinical Microbiology and the History of Medicine, University College London, UK. Electronic address: h.donoghue@ucl.ac.uk.
⁹ Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: d.e.minnikin@bham.ac.uk.

PMID: 25797611
DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2015.02.013

Abstract

Studies on the evolution of tuberculosis, and the influence of this disease on human and animal development and interaction, require the accumulation of indisputable biomarker evidence. Ideally, the determination of full genomes would provide all the necessary information, but for very old specimens DNA preservation may be compromised and only limited DNA amplification may be a possibility. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is characterised by the presence of unusual cell envelope lipids, with specific biomarker potential. Lipid biomarker recognition has been decisive in pinpointing the oldest known cases of human and animal tuberculosis; the former are a woman and child from a pre-pottery settlement at Atlit-Yam, Israel (∼9,000 ka) and the latter is an extinct Bison antiquus from Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming (∼17,000 ka). Including some new data, it is demonstrated how analysis of a combination of mycolic, mycocerosic and mycolipenic acid and phthiocerol biomarkers provide incontrovertible evidence for tuberculosis in these landmark specimens.

Keywords: Ancient tuberculosis; Biomarkers; Lipids.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Biomarkers / analysis
Cattle
Child, Preschool
Female
History, Ancient
Humans
Lipids / analysis
Lipids / genetics*
Mycolic Acids / analysis
Paleopathology / methods*
Tuberculosis, Osteoarticular / genetics
Tuberculosis, Osteoarticular / history*

Substances

Biomarkers
Lipids
Mycolic Acids