Short Report

PCR diagnostics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in historic human long bone remains from 18^th century burials in Kaiserebersdorf, Austria

Lutz Bachmann¹ , Barbara Däubl² , Charlotte Lindqvist^1,4 , Luise Kruckenhauser² , Maria Teschler-Nicola³ and Elisabeth Haring²

¹Natural History Museum, Department for Zoology, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blindern, NO-0318, Oslo, Norway

²Museum of Natural History Vienna, 1st Zoology. Department, Molecular Systematics, Burgring 7, A-1010, Vienna, Austria

³Museum of Natural History Vienna, Department of Anthropology, Burgring 7, A-1010, Vienna, Austria

⁴Department of Biological Sciences, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Research Notes 2008, 1:83doi:10.1186/1756-0500-1-83

Published:	17 September 2008

Abstract

Background

In the present pilot study we applied recently published protocols for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human remains. We screened long bones from an 18^th century cemetery and skulls from the anatomical "Weisbach collection" (19^th century). In addition, besides the study of abundance of tuberculosis in inmates of the poorhouse itself, we were interested to test whether in this particular instance tuberculosis can be identified from cortical bones, which are rarely affected by tuberculosis, but mostly better preserved than the vertebral bodies or epiphyses.

Method

The DNA extractions from the bone samples were obtained following established ancient DNA protocols. Subsequently extracts were subjected to a series of PCR amplifications using primer pairs published previously [1,2]. PCR products of the expected size were subsequently sequenced.

Results

Only primers targeting the repetitive IS6110 insertion sequence yielded PCR products of appropriate size. In one sample only (skull sample WB354 of the "Weisbach collection") sequence analysis revealed an authentic M. tuberculosis sequence that matched to a reference sequence from GenBank.

Conclusion

With a variety of established PCR approaches we failed to detect M. tuberculosis DNA in historic human femurs from an 18^th century cemetery relating to a poor house in Kaiserebersdorf, Austria. Our data may indicate that in this particular case, thoracic or lumbar vertebrae, i.e. bones that are severely affected by the disease, would be more suitable for molecular diagnostics than long bones. However, the unpredictable state of DNA preservation in bones from museum collections does not allow any general recommendation of any type of bone.