Neanderthals: Dental stones DNA can identify differences in food and diet.

Neanderthals living in the El Sidron cave in northern Spain have been living in poverty.
before they died about 50,000 years ago, they ate mushrooms, moss and pines.
some of them may even treat their diseases with plants and mold.
these precise portraits were analyzed using DNA from five Neanderthal hardened plaques.
study also reconstructed the first microbiome from an extinct ancient human species, suggesting possible intimate behavior between modern humans and Neanderthals, such as kissing.
a different picture, including who they are and their personalities," said Laura Weyrich, a paleontologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia who co-led the study.
" Christina Warinner, an archaeologist at the Institute of Human History and Science at the Map Society in Jena, Germany, praised the researchers for rebuilding the microbiome.
the fact that Neanderthal mouths seem to have been occupied by microbes that are very different from modern humans means that "we really just know the fur of human microbiology," says Waringner.
more than 20 years ago, the study's co-authors, Keith Dobney of the University of Liverpool and Alan Cooper of the University of Adelaide, initially attempted to sequence DNA from calcified plaque layers (also known as stones) on ancient human teeth.
scientists had hoped to learn about Neanderthal diets and diseases, but trace contamination obscured any attempt to identify ancient microbes and foods.
, improvements to ancient DNA analysis techniques have made it possible to determine these trace sequences, allowing a large number of ancient tooth stones to enter the scientists' field of view.
In a 2013 study, a team led by Cooper sequenced dental stones and found dramatic changes in human oral microbes caused by major dietary changes, including a significant increase in starchy foods caused by stable agricultural production about 10,000 years ago, and the introduction of processed flour and sugar into people's diets during the industrial revolution of the 19th century.
weyrich's team compared the dna of Neanderthal dental stones from the El Sidron cave and the Belgian Spy cave.
analysis showed that the latter appeared to feed on woolly rhinos and wild sheep, while the former preferred plants.
both Neanderthals at the same time ate mushrooms.
, however, Herve Bocherens, a paleontologist at the University of Tubingen in Germany, is skeptical that dental stones DNA can identify differences in food and diet.
dna of extinct plants and animals eaten by Neanderthals is often scarce in databases, and previous studies have shown that both Neanderthals ate meat.
don't think about the final conclusion right now, " says Mr Bocherens.
also found that Neanderthals in the El Sidron cave may have used plants for self-healing.
(containing salyanic acid) DNA and penicillin (the source of penicillin) are found in the teeth of a Neanderthal.
Weyrich suspects they tried to treat tooth abscesses and bacterial infections.
genetic evidence of a microbe called Bacillus Bacillus, provides another possibility, as it is also found in the mouths of modern people.
genome comparison suggests that the microbe's modern linee parted ways with Neanderthals hundreds of thousands of years after the last common ancestor appeared.
means that ancient bacteria have spread between the two species.
if you want to exchange saliva between species, they may be kissing, or at least sharing food," he said.
," Weyrich said, "suggests that these communications may be much more intimate than we thought."
"Neanderthals are often commonly known as representative clusters in the middle stages of human evolutionary history.
named after his fossil found in a Neanderthal cave in Germany.
Neanderthals were close relatives of modern European ancestors who ruled europe, western Asia and northern Africa from 120,000 years ago, but disappeared 24,000 years ago.
2009, neanderthal genome maps were released.
2010, a study sequencing the Neanderthal genome showed that between 1 and 4 percent of Neanderthal DNA was found in humans in the Middle East and Europe.
February 2014, neanderthal DNA sequences were found to be very similar to those of modern humans, according to a study published by archaeologists.
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