Hot Spots In Arctic Soils: Are Ancient Arctic Settlements Possible Reservoirs For Pathogenic Agents?

Lorrie Maccario*, Judit Szarvas, Saria Otani, Louise Mørch Mortensen, Bo Elberling, Kirstine Møller, Christian Madsen, Frank Møller Aarestrup, Anders Priemé

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference abstract in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

The history of Greenland is marked by repeated waves of Paleo-Inuit immigration from North America. From the 10th to 15th century, Norse settlers immigrated from Europe and flourished in southwest Greenland with the introduction of domestic livestock. The different Inuit and Norse cultures created middens by dumping and accumulating domestic waste. Today, animal bones, excrements, mollusc shells and other artefacts associated with past human occupation are a valuable resource for archaeologists to study these past societies’ diets, habits, life and death. However, these archaeological features might also represent unique microbial reservoirs of organisms from mixed origins within an organic rich matrix. A latent source of microbes, that is currently exposed to climate change. Drastic increase in temperature observed in Greenland leads midden material to be carried away by enlarged melting water from snowdrifts. Rising sea levels and loss of sea ice also accelerates the erosion of middens that are most often situated along the coast and might be washed out into the sea. This raises the question whether these sites represent a disease emergence threat. Especially that the increase in plant production in West Greenland is opening for the development of sheep farming in the Nuuk area, exactly where sheep farms were situated during the Norse era and abandoned for the past 500 years. In the VEO project, we aim to evaluate if ancient Arctic settlements are possible hot-spots for pathogenic agents, and if potential pathogens may spread to the surrounding environment. Using metagenomics, we compared the microbial communities of middens from different age and location in West and South Greenland (Paleo-Inuit, Norse and Modern Inuit middens) to pristine surrounding soils. We found that even after hundreds of years, the middens harbor a distinctive microbial signature enriched in host-associated and/or pathogenic bacteria belonging to Clostridium and other firmicutes; commensal bacteria from human faecal microbiome C. massilliamazoniense, Ramboutsia hominins and Eubacterium tenue, food poisoning agent C. perfringens, opportunistic pathogens Paeniclostridium sordellii causing toxic shock in humans, or agents associated to rare infant or adult botulism such as C. baratii and C. thermobutyricum.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2023 : Abstract book
Number of pages1
PublisherThe Danish Microbiological Society
Publication date2023
Pages62-62
Article number60
Publication statusPublished - 2023
EventThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2023 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 13 Nov 202313 Nov 2023

Conference

ConferenceThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2023
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period13/11/202313/11/2023

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