Increased exposure to antibiotics has led to the dissemination of genes conferring resistance to antimicrobial metabolites throughout human microbiomes globally via horizontal gene transfer (HGT). This has resulted in the emergence of new resistant strains leading to a rising epidemic of deaths from previously treatable infections. Evidence suggests that before the age of anthropogenic antibiotic use, microbes living within a community produced antibiotic metabolites and, subsequently, maintained such genes for several useful functions and a balance of diversity in nature. The question of the origin of these resistant genes is difficult to answer, but with continued advancements in ancient genomic analysis, researchers have developed methods of acquiring a more accurate representation of the microbiome associated with our human ancestors by extracting fossilized microbial specimens from dental calculus and directly sequencing the metagenomes. This thesis outlines the production of taxonomic and functional profiles of 20 different human and non-human oral microbiome samples using metagenomics tools originally developed for living individuals, altered for use with ancient microbial specimens. Putative antimicrobial resistant (AMR) genes derived from these profiles were reconstructed and conserved functional regions were identified. From the data that is available regarding the human microbiome from a range of time points throughout history dating back to Neanderthal specimens, it is possible to elucidate relationships between these AMR genes and to better understand the evolutionary trajectory of antibiotic resistance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1707269 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Johnson, Sarah |
| Contributors | Azad, Rajeev, Hughes, Lee, Shulaev, Vladimir |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 84 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Johnson, Sarah, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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