Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae: Use of Whole-Genome Sequences To Validate Species Identification Methods.

A correct identification of is a prerequisite for investigating the clinical impact of the bacterium. The identification has traditionally relied on phenotypic methods. However, these phenotypic traits have been shown to be unreliable, with some strains giving conflicting results.

An integrated analysis of Maglemose bone points reframes the Early Mesolithic of Southern Scandinavia.

The extensive peat bogs of Southern Scandinavia have yielded rich Mesolithic archaeological assemblages, with one of the most iconic artefacts being the bone point. Although great in number they remain understudied. Here we present a combined investigation of the typology, protein-based species composition, and absolute chronology of Maglemosian bone points.

Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east.

Similar genomic patterns of clinical infective endocarditis and oral isolates of Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus gordonii.

Streptococcus gordonii and Streptococcus sanguinis belong to the Mitis group streptococci, which mostly are commensals in the human oral cavity. Though they are oral commensals, they can escape their niche and cause infective endocarditis, a severe infection with high mortality. Several virulence factors important for the development of infective endocarditis have been described in these two species.

A 5700 year-old human genome and oral microbiome from chewed birch pitch.

The rise of ancient genomics has revolutionised our understanding of human prehistory but this work depends on the availability of suitable samples. Here we present a complete ancient human genome and oral microbiome sequenced from a 5700 year-old piece of chewed birch pitch from Denmark. We sequence the human genome to an average depth of 2.

The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia.

The Yamnaya expansions from the western steppe into Europe and Asia during the Early Bronze Age (~3000 BCE) are believed to have brought with them Indo-European languages and possibly horse husbandry. We analyzed 74 ancient whole-genome sequences from across Inner Asia and Anatolia and show that the Botai people associated with the earliest horse husbandry derived from a hunter-gatherer population deeply diverged from the Yamnaya. Our results also suggest distinct migrations bringing West Eurasian ancestry into South Asia before and after, but not at the time of, Yamnaya culture.