02199nas a2200349   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042653002500054653001600079653002000095653001200115653002100127100001400148700001300162700001300175700001500188700002100203700002100224700002400245700001200269700001700281700001200298700002100310700001500331700001500346245009000361856007000451300001300521490000800534520129300542022001401835       2020                            d  c11/202010aMycobacterium leprae10aancient DNA10adental calculus10aleprosy10apalaeoproteomics1 aFotakis A1 aDenham S1 aMackie M1 aOrbegozo M1 aMylopotamitaki D1 aGopalakrishnan S1 aSicheritz-Pontén T1 aOlsen J1 aCappellini E1 aZhang G1 aChristophersen A1 aGilbert TM1 aVågene Å00aMulti-omic detection of Mycobacterium leprae in archaeological human dental calculus.  uhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2019.0584  a201905840 v3753 a<p>Mineralized dental plaque (calculus) has proven to be an excellent source of ancient biomolecules. Here we present a  genome (6.6-fold), the causative agent of leprosy, recovered via shotgun sequencing of sixteenth-century human dental calculus from an individual from Trondheim, Norway. When phylogenetically placed, this genome falls in branch 3I among the diversity of other contemporary ancient strains from Northern Europe. Moreover, ancient mycobacterial peptides were retrieved via mass spectrometry-based proteomics, further validating the presence of the pathogen.  can readily be detected in the oral cavity and associated mucosal membranes, which likely contributed to it being incorporated into this individual's dental calculus. This individual showed some possible, but not definitive, evidence of skeletal lesions associated with early-stage leprosy. This study is the first known example of successful multi-omics retrieval of  from archaeological dental calculus. Furthermore, we offer new insights into dental calculus as an alternative sample source to bones or teeth for detecting and molecularly characterizing  in individuals from the archaeological record. This article is part of the theme issue 'Insights into health and disease from ancient biomolecules'.</p>  a1471-2970