Molecular Exploration of the First-Century Tomb of the Shroud in Akeldama,Jerusalem

The Tomb of the Shroud is a first-century C.E. tomb discovered in Akeldama, Jerusalem, Israel that had been illegally entered and looted. The investigation of this tomb by an interdisciplinary team of researchers began in 2000. More than twenty stone ossuaries for collecting human bones were found, along with textiles from a burial shroud, hair and skeletal remains. The research presented here focuses on genetic analysis of the bioarchaeological remains from the tomb using mitochondrial DNA to examine familial relationships of the individuals within the tomb and molecular screening for the presence of disease. There are three mitochondrial haplotypes shared between a number of the remains analyzed suggesting a possible family tomb. There were two pathogens genetically detected within the collection of osteological samples, these were Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae. The Tomb of the Shroud is one of very few examples of a preserved shrouded human burial and the only example of a plaster sealed loculus with remains genetically confirmed to have belonged to a shrouded male individual that suffered from tuberculosis and leprosy dating to the first-century C.E. This is the earliest case of leprosy with a confirmed date in which M. leprae DNA was detected.     

Eurytrema procyonis, a pancreatic fluke of North American carnivores

Eurytrema procyonis is reported from the pancreatic ducts of domestic cats from North Carolina and Virginia. There were extensive histopathological alterations to the pancreas, especially the pancreatic ducts. However, there was no clinical evidence of infections. The incorporation of a synanthropic host in the life history of E. procyonis allows for rapid distribution of this fluke over its potential geographical range.     

Circulating anti-p53 antibodies in lung cancer and relationship to histology and smoking

Anti-p53 antibodies were examined in the plasma of 112 lung cancer patients by ELISA in order to study the distributions in lung cancer patients and the determinants of these antibodies in relation to lung cancer. Twenty (17.9 %) lung cancer patients were found to have anti-p53 antibodies. The distribution of the antibodies by histological type was 7/48 (14.6 %) adenocarcinoma, 8/32 (25.0 %) squamous cell carcinoma, 3/7 (42.9 %) small cell lung cancer, 0/4 large cell carcinoma, 0/8 adenosquamous cell carcinoma and 2/13 (15.4 %) other types. By ethnicity, 8/44 (18.2 %) Caucasians, 4/20 (20.0 %) Hispanics and 8/48 (16.7 %) African-Americans were positive for anti-p53 antibodies, with no significant differences among the groups (p=0.5137). The antibody positivity rates were higher in lung cancer patients 55 years or older (21.2 %) than in the patients under 55 years (7.4 %). The positive rates of the antibodies were 14.3 % in non-smokers, 16.7 % in ex-smokers and 19.1 % in current smokers, with heavy smokers (41 pack-years) having the highest positive rate (28.6 %), but none of these differences were statistically significant (p > 0.05). Seven controls who had anti-p53 antibodies were all ex-smokers or current smokers and some had occupational exposures. No anti-p53 antibodies were found in 41 non-smoking controls. These results suggest that the development of anti-p53 antibodies in pulmonary carcinogenesis and its association with smoking and other carcinogenic exposures deserve further study.     

Comparative genomic assessment of Multi-Locus Sequence Typing: rapid accumulation of genomic heterogeneity among clonal isolates of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Campylobacter jejuni</Emphasis>

Background  

Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) has emerged as a leading molecular typing method owing to its high ability to discriminate among bacterial isolates, the relative ease with which data acquisition and analysis can be standardized, and the high portability of the resulting sequence data. While MLST has been successfully applied to the study of the population structure for a number of different bacterial species, it has also provided compelling evidence for high rates of recombination in some species. We have analyzed a set of Campylobacter jejuni strains using MLST and Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) on a full-genome microarray in order to determine whether recombination and high levels of genomic mosaicism adversely affect the inference of strain relationships based on the analysis of a restricted number of genetic loci.     

Negative selection of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells using a bifunctional rosette-based antibody cocktail

Background  

High purity of tumour samples is a necessity for accurate genetic and expression analysis and is usually achieved by positive selection in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).     

Technical note: Removal of metal ion inhibition encountered during DNA extraction and amplification of copper‐preserved archaeological bone using size exclusion chromatography

A novel technique for the removal of metal ions inhibiting DNA extraction and PCR of archaeological bone extracts is presented using size exclusion chromatography. Two case studies, involving copper inhibition, demonstrate the effective removal of metal ion inhibition. Light microscopy, SEM, elemental analysis, and genetic analysis were used to demonstrate the effective removal of metal ions from samples that previously exhibited molecular inhibition. This research identifies that copper can cause inhibition of DNA polymerase during DNA amplification. The use of size exclusion chromatography as an additional purification step before DNA amplification from degraded bone samples successfully removes metal ions and other inhibitors, for the analysis of archaeological bone. The biochemistry of inhibition is explored through chemical and enzymatic extraction methodology on archaeological material. We demonstrate a simple purification technique that provides a high yield of purified DNA (>95%) that can be used to address most types of inhibition commonly associated with the analysis of degraded archaeological and forensic samples. We present a new opportunity for the molecular analysis of archaeological samples preserved in the presence of metal ions, such as copper, which have previously yielded no DNA results. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.