Ancient DNA from Ascaris: extraction amplification and sequences from eggscollected in coprolites

On the Middle-Age site of Namur (Belgium) the analysis of coprolites reveal ed the presence of many well-preserved Ascaris eggs. Following rehydratatio n of the coprolite samples, 104 eggs were collected and extracted with an u ltrasonication and phenol-chloroform based method. Three overlapping fragme nts of the 18S rRNA gene and one fragment of the cytochrome b gene have bee n reproducibly amplified, cloned and sequenced. The analysis of these seque nces confirms the identification of the eggs as coming from Ascaris. Our st udy reveals that coprolites can be an interesting source of parasites that can be readily identified using molecular approaches. The study of ancient DNA from helminth parasites is of interest as it may answer long-standing q uestions in the history of infectious diseases and gives a possibility to c ompare these ancient sequences with those of modern populations. (C) 2001 A ustralian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.