Christina Warinner: Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque

Prevoditelj: Vedrana Čemerin Recezent: Suzana Baric

Have you ever wondered

Jeste li se ikad zapitali

what is inside your dental plaque?

što se nalazi unutar vašeg zubnog plaka?

Probably not, but people like me do.

Vjerojatno niste, no ljudi poput mene jesu.

I'm an archeological geneticist

Ja sam arheološka genetičarka

at the Center for Evolutionary Medicine

u Centru za evolucijsku medicinu

at the University of Zurich,

Sveučilišta u Zurichu

and I study the origins and evolution of human health and disease

i proučavam porijeklo i evoluciju ljudskog zdravlja i bolesti

by conducting genetic research

provođenjem genetskih istraživanja

on the skeletal and mummified remains of ancient humans.

na koštanim i mumificiranim ostacima drevnih ljudi.

And through this work, I hope to better understand

Kroz taj rad nadam se da ću bolje razumjeti

the evolutionary vulnerabilities of our bodies,

evolucijsku ranjivost naših tijela,

so that we can improve

kako bismo mogli poboljšati

and better manage our health in the future.

i bolje upravljati našim zdravljem u budućnosti.

There are different ways to approach evolutionary medicine,

Postoje različiti pristupi evolucijskoj medicini,

and one way is to extract human DNA

a jedan je od njih izvlačenje ljudske DNK

from ancient bones.

iz drevnih kostiju.

And from these extracts,

Iz tih uzoraka

we can reconstruct the human genome at different points in time

možemo rekonstruirati ljudski genom u različitim vremenskim točkama

and look for changes that might be related to adaptations,

i tražiti promjene koje bi mogle biti povezane s prilagodbama,

risk factors and inherited diseases.

rizične čimbenike i nasljedne bolesti.

But this is only one half of the story.

No to je samo polovica priče.

The most important health challenges today

Najvažnije današnje zdravstvene izazove

are not caused by simple mutations in our genome,

ne uzrokuju jednostavne mutacije našeg genoma,

but rather result from a complex and dynamic interplay

nego su posljedica složene i dinamične međuigre

between genetic variation,

između genskih varijacija,

diet, microbes and parasites

prehrane, bakterija i parazita

and our immune response.

te naše imunološke reakcije.

All of these diseases

Sve te bolesti

have a strong evolutionary component

posjeduju snažnu evolucijsku komponentu

that directly relates to the fact

izravno povezanu s činjenicom

that we live today in a very different environment

da danas živimo u mnogo različitijoj okolini

than the ones in which our bodies evolved.

od one u kojoj su naša tijela evoluirala.

And in order to understand these diseases,

Kako bismo razumjeli te bolesti

we need to move past studies of the human genome alone

moramo se odmaknuti od samog proučavanja ljudskog genoma

and towards a more holistic approach

prema holističkom pristupu

to human health in the past.

ljudskom zdravlju u prošlosti.

But there are a lot of challenges for this.

No za to se moramo suočiti s mnogim izazovima.

And first of all, what do we even study?

Kao prvo, što zapravo proučavamo?

Skeletons are ubiquitous; they're found all over the place.

Kosturi su sveprisutni, ima ih posvuda.

But of course, all of the soft tissue has decomposed,

No, naravno da se svo meko tkivo razgradilo,

and the skeleton itself

a sam kostur

has limited health information.

nudi ograničene informacije o zdravlju.

Mummies are a great source of information,

Mumije su odličan izvor podataka,

except that they're really geographically limited

samo što su ograničene geografski

and limited in time as well.

i vremenski.

Coprolites are fossilized human feces,

Koproliti su fosilizirani ljudski izmet

and they're actually extremely interesting.

i zapravo su vrlo zanimljivi.

You can learn a lot about ancient diet and intestinal disease,

Možete saznati mnogo o drevnoj prehrani i bolestima probavnog sustava,

but they are very rare.

no vrlo su rijetki.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

So to address this problem,

Kako bismo se pozabavili tim problemom,

I put together a team of international researchers

okupila sam međunarodni istraživački tim

in Switzerland, Denmark and the U.K.

u Švicarskoj, Danskoj i Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu

to study a very poorly studied, little known material

da bi proučavao slabo istražen i malo poznat materijal

that's found on people everywhere.

koji pronalazimo na ljudima svugdje.

It's a type of fossilized dental plaque

To je vrsta fosiliziranog zubnog plaka

that is called officially dental calculus.

koja se službeno naziva zubni kalkulus.

Many of you may know it by the term tartar.

Mnogi od vas ga znaju pod nazivom kamenac.

It's what the dentist cleans off your teeth

To je ono što zubar čisti s vaših zuba

every time that you go in for a visit.

svaki put kad ga posjetite.

And in a typical dentistry visit,

Kod tipičnog posjeta zubaru

you may have about 15 to 30 milligrams removed.

mogli bi vam ukloniti 15 do 30 miligrama.

But in ancient times before tooth brushing,

No u drevno doba, prije pranja zuba četkicom,

up to 600 milligrams might have built up on the teeth

na zubima se moglo nakupiti do 600 miligrama

over a lifetime.

tijekom životnog vijeka.

And what's really important about dental calculus

Kod zubnog je kamenca doista važno

is that it fossilizes just like the rest of the skeleton,

to što se on fosilizira poput ostatka kostura,

it's abundant in quantity before the present day

količinski ga ima mnogo prije suvremenog doba

and it's ubiquitous worldwide.

i sveprisutan je diljem svijeta.

We find it in every population around the world at all time periods

Pronalazimo ga u svakoj populaciji diljem svijeta u svim vremenskim razdobljima

going back tens of thousands of years.

desecima tisuća godina unazad.

And we even find it in neanderthals and animals.

Pronalazimo ga čak i kod neandertalaca i životinja.

And so previous studies

Prethodne su se studije

had only focused on microscopy.

usredotočavale samo na mikroskopiju.

They'd looked at dental calculus under a microscope,

Pregledali bi zubni kamenac pod mikroskopom

and what they had found was things like pollen

i pronalazili stvari poput peludi,

and plant starches,

biljnog škroba,

and they'd found muscle cells from animal meats

mišićnih stanica iz životinjskog mesa

and bacteria.

i bakterije.

And so what my team of researchers, what we wanted to do,

Moj je istraživački tim želio

is say, can we apply

primijeniti, recimo,

genetic and proteomic technology

genetsku i proteomsku tehnologiju

to go after DNA and proteins,

da bismo krenuli u potragu za DNK i bjelančevinama

and from this can we get better taxonomic resolution

iz kojih bismo mogli dobiti bolju taksonomsku razlučivost

to really understand what's going on?

da bismo doista razumjeli što se događa.

And what we found

Otkrili smo

is that we can find many commensal and pathogenic bacteria

da možemo naći mnoge komenzalne i patogene bakterije

that inhabited the nasal passages and mouth.

koje su živjele u nosnim prolazima i ustima.

We also have found immune proteins

Također smo pronašli imunološke proteine

related to infection and inflammation

povezane s infekcijama i upalama

and proteins and DNA related to diet.

i proteine i DNK povezane s prehranom.

But what was surprising to us, and also quite exciting,

No iznenadilo nas je, i poprilično uzbudilo,

is we also found bacteria

to što smo također pronašli bakterije

that normally inhabit upper respiratory systems.

koje inače žive u gornjem dišnom sustavu.

So it gives us virtual access to the lungs,

To nam praktički daje pristup plućima

which is where many important diseases reside.

gdje se nalaze mnoge važne bolesti.

And we also found bacteria

Također smo pronašli i bakterije

that normally inhabit the gut.

koje inače žive u crijevima.

And so we can also now virtually gain access

Tako sad možemo praktički pristupiti

to this even more distant organ system

tom još udaljenijem organskom sustavu

that, from the skeleton alone,

koji se, izuzev samog kostura,

has long decomposed.

davno razgradio.

And so by applying ancient DNA sequencing

Tako primjenom sekvenciranja drevne DNK

and protein mass spectrometry technologies

i tehnologija masene spektrometrije proteina

to ancient dental calculus,

na drevni zubni kamenac,

we can generate immense quantities of data

možemo dobiti ogromne količine podataka

that then we can use to begin to reconstruct a detailed picture

koje možemo upotrijebiti za rekonstrukciju detaljne slike

of the dynamic interplay

dinamičkog uzajamnog djelovanja

between diet, infection and immunity

između prehrane, infekcija i imuniteta

thousands of years ago.

prije više tisuća godina.

So what started out as an idea,

Što je započelo kao ideja,

is now being implemented

sad se primjenjuje

to churn out millions of sequences

da bi izbacilo milijune sekvenci

that we can use to investigate

koje možemo upotrijebiti da bismo istražili

the long-term evolutionary history of human health and disease,

dugotrajnu evolucijsku povijest ljudskog zdravlja i bolesti,

right down to the genetic code of individual pathogens.

sve do genetskog koda pojedinih patogena.

And from this information

Iz tih podataka

we can learn about how pathogens evolve

možemo saznati kako patogeni evoluiraju

and also why they continue to make us sick.

i zašto se od njih i dalje razbolijevamo.

And I hope I have convinced you

Nadam se da sam vas uvjerila

of the value of dental calculus.

u vrijednost zubnog kamenca.

And as a final parting thought,

Kao konačna misao na rastanku

on behalf of future archeologists,

u ime budućih arheologa

I would like to ask you to please think twice

željela bih vas zamoliti da dvaput razmislite

before you go home and brush your teeth.

prije no što odete kući i operete zube.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)