Scientists from the University of Wisconsin in Madison (USA) have restored the genome of saprophytic staphylococcus, found in a burial on the outskirts of the once mighty and legendary city of Troy, reports the portal Phys.org.
The research was preceded by a discovery made in 2005 in Turkey. Archaeologists from the University of Tubingen (Germany) have found a cemetery from the late Byzantine Empire on the outskirts of the legendary Troy. One of the burials contained the skeleton of a woman who died about 800 years ago. The researchers' attention was drawn to two strawberry-sized calcified bumps located just below the ribs. Samples were sent for research in the United States.
“We first assumed the tuberculosis was due to tuberculosis,” said study co-author Kaitlyn Peperell of the University of Wisconsin. - But further analysis showed that the woman did not have tuberculosis. Later, calcified erythrocytes were found in the samples, which contained bacterial DNA of a dangerous infection - chorioamnionitis.
According to Peperell, the samples contained enough DNA to completely restore the genome of two species of bacteria: Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Gardnerella vaginalis. Probably, they caused the death of a woman who died, as the analysis showed, at the age of 30.
According to the researchers, the restoration of the genome allowed to expand knowledge about the threats faced by the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire, as well as about the evolution of saprophytic staphylococcus.
Denis Peredelsky
