RESEARCH ARTICLE Gut Microbiome of an 11th Century A.D. Pre- Columbian Andean Mummy

The process of natural mummification is a rare and unique process from which little is known about the resulting microbial community structure. In the present study, we char-acterized the microbiome of paleofeces, and ascending, transverse and descending colon of an 11th century A.D. pre-Columbian Andean mummy by 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and metagenomics. Firmicutes were the most abundant bacterial group, with Clostridium spp. comprising up to 96.2 % of the mummified gut, while Turici-bacter spp. represented 89.2 % of the bacteria identified in the paleofeces. Microbiome profile of the paleofeces was unique when compared to previously characterized copro-lites that did not undergo natural mummification. We identified DNA sequences homolo-gous to Clostridium botulinum, Trypanosoma cruzi and human papillomaviruses (HPVs). Unexpectedly, putative antibiotic-resistance genes including beta-lactamases, penicillin-binding proteins, resistance to fosfomycin, chloramphenicol, aminoglycosides, macro-lides, sulfa, quinolones, tetracycline and vancomycin, and multi-drug transporters, were also identified. The presence of putative antibiotic-resistance genes suggests that resis