Preservation of the metaproteome: variability of protein preservation in ancient dental calculus.
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Authors
Sperduti, Alessandra
Holst, Malin
Publication Date
2017Journal Title
Sci Technol Archaeol Res
ISSN
2054-8923
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Volume
3
Issue
1
Pages
74-86
Language
eng
Type
Article
Physical Medium
Electronic-eCollection
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Mackie, M., Hendy, J., Lowe, A. D., Sperduti, A., Holst, M., Collins, M., & Speller, C. F. (2017). Preservation of the metaproteome: variability of protein preservation in ancient dental calculus.. Sci Technol Archaeol Res, 3 (1), 74-86. https://doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2017.1361629
Abstract
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.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2017.1361629
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285859
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