Preservation of the metaproteome: Variability of protein preservation in ancient dental calculus

TY - JOUR

T1 - Preservation of the metaproteome:

T2 - Variability of protein preservation in ancient dental calculus

AU - Mackie, Meaghan

AU - Hendy, Jessica Ruth

AU - Lowe, Abigail Daisy

AU - Sperduti, Alessandra

AU - Holst, Malin Ragnhild

AU - Collins, Matthew James

AU - Speller, Camilla Filomena

N1 - © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2017/8/11

Y1 - 2017/8/11

N2 - Proteomic analysis of dental calculus is emerging as a powerful tool for disease and dietary characterisation of archaeological populations. To better understand the variability in protein results from dental calculus, we analysed 21 samples from three Roman-period populations to compare: 1) the quantity of extracted protein; 2) the number of mass spectral queries; and 3) the number of peptide spectral matches and protein identifications. We found little correlation between the quantity of calculus analysed and total protein identifications, as well as no systematic trends between site location and protein preservation. We identified a wide range of individual variability, which may be associated with the mechanisms of calculus formation and/or post-depositional contamination, in addition to taphonomic factors. Our results suggest dental calculus is indeed a stable, long-term reservoir of proteins as previously reported, but further systematic studies are needed to identify mechanisms associated with protein entrapment and survival in dental calculus.

AB - Proteomic analysis of dental calculus is emerging as a powerful tool for disease and dietary characterisation of archaeological populations. To better understand the variability in protein results from dental calculus, we analysed 21 samples from three Roman-period populations to compare: 1) the quantity of extracted protein; 2) the number of mass spectral queries; and 3) the number of peptide spectral matches and protein identifications. We found little correlation between the quantity of calculus analysed and total protein identifications, as well as no systematic trends between site location and protein preservation. We identified a wide range of individual variability, which may be associated with the mechanisms of calculus formation and/or post-depositional contamination, in addition to taphonomic factors. Our results suggest dental calculus is indeed a stable, long-term reservoir of proteins as previously reported, but further systematic studies are needed to identify mechanisms associated with protein entrapment and survival in dental calculus.

KW - Archaeology

KW - dental calculus

KW - destructive analysis

KW - LC-MS/MS

KW - Shotgun proteomics

KW - protein preservation

U2 - 10.1080/20548923.2017.1361629

DO - 10.1080/20548923.2017.1361629

M3 - Article

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - STAR: Science Technology of Archaeological Research

JF - STAR: Science Technology of Archaeological Research

ER -