Christina Warinner: Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque

Prevodilac: Dejan Vicai Lektor: Mile Živković

Have you ever wondered

Da li ste se ikada pitali

what is inside your dental plaque?

šta se nalazi u vašem zubnom plaku?

Probably not, but people like me do.

Verovatno ne, ali ljudi poput mene jesu.

I'm an archeological geneticist

Ja sam arheološki genetičar

at the Center for Evolutionary Medicine

u Centru za evolucionu medicinu

at the University of Zurich,

na Univerzitetu u Cirihu,

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

proučavam poreklo i evoluciju ljudskog zdravlja i bolesti

by conducting genetic research

tako što sprovodim genetsko istraživanje

on the skeletal and mummified remains of ancient humans.

na skeletnim i mumificiranim ostacima drevnih ljudi.

And through this work, I hope to better understand

Kroz ovakav rad, nadam se boljem razumevanju

the evolutionary vulnerabilities of our bodies,

evolucionarne ranjivosti naših tela,

so that we can improve

da bismo mogli da poboljšamo

and better manage our health in the future.

i bolje upravljamo svojim zdravljem u budućnosti.

There are different ways to approach evolutionary medicine,

Ima različitih načina da se pristupi evolucionarnoj medicini,

and one way is to extract human DNA

i jedan od njih je da se izvuče ljudska DNK

from ancient bones.

iz drevnih kostju.

And from these extracts,

Od ovih uzoraka,

we can reconstruct the human genome at different points in time

možemo da rekonstruišemo ljudski genom u različitim tačkama vremena

and look for changes that might be related to adaptations,

i da tražimo promene koje mogu biti u vezi sa prilagođavanjem,

risk factors and inherited diseases.

faktore rizika i nasledne bolesti.

But this is only one half of the story.

Ali ovo je samo jedna polovina priče.

The most important health challenges today

Najvažniji zdravstveni problemi današnjice

are not caused by simple mutations in our genome,

nisu prouzrokovani jednostavnom mutacijom u našim genima,

but rather result from a complex and dynamic interplay

već su posledica složenog i dinamičnog međudejstva

between genetic variation,

između genetičke varijacije,

diet, microbes and parasites

ishrane, mikroba i parazita

and our immune response.

i našeg imunološkog odgovora.

All of these diseases

Sve ove bolesti

have a strong evolutionary component

imaju jaku evolucionarnu komponentu

that directly relates to the fact

koja je neposredno povezana sa činjenicom

that we live today in a very different environment

da danas živimo u veoma različitom okruženju

than the ones in which our bodies evolved.

od onog u kom su se naša tela razvila.

And in order to understand these diseases,

Da bismo razumeli te bolesti,

we need to move past studies of the human genome alone

moramo da se pomerimo od istraživanja samo ljudskog gena

and towards a more holistic approach

više ka holističkom pristupu

to human health in the past.

ljudskom zdravlju u prošlosti.

But there are a lot of challenges for this.

Postoji mnogo izazova.

And first of all, what do we even study?

Kao prvo, šta uopšte proučavamo?

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

Svuda se nalaze kosturi; pronalaze se na sve strane.

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

Naravno, svo meko tkivo se raspalo,

and the skeleton itself

a sam kostur

has limited health information.

ima ograničene zdravstvene informacije.

Mummies are a great source of information,

Mumije su odličan izvor informacija,

except that they're really geographically limited

osim što su ograničene geografski,

and limited in time as well.

kao i vremenski.

Coprolites are fossilized human feces,

Koprolit je fosilizovan ljudski izmet,

and they're actually extremely interesting.

i zapravo je izuzetno zanimvljiv.

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

Može se puno naučiti o drevnoj ishrani i bolestima creva,

but they are very rare.

ali veoma je redak.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So to address this problem,

Za rešavanje ovog problema,

I put together a team of international researchers

sastavila sam međunarodni tim istraživača

in Switzerland, Denmark and the U.K.

u Švajcarskoj, Danskoj i Ujedinjenom kraljevstvu

to study a very poorly studied, little known material

kako bi proučavali veoma malo izučavan, slabo poznat materijal

that's found on people everywhere.

koji se nalazi na ljudima svuda.

It's a type of fossilized dental plaque

To je vrsta fosilizovanog zubnog plaka

that is called officially dental calculus.

koji se zvanično zove zubni kamenac.

Many of you may know it by the term tartar.

Mnogima od vas poznat je kao tartar.

It's what the dentist cleans off your teeth

To je ono što vam zubar uklanja sa zuba

every time that you go in for a visit.

svaki put kada odete u posetu.

And in a typical dentistry visit,

Pri tipičnoj poseti zubara,

you may have about 15 to 30 milligrams removed.

možda će vam ukloniti oko 15 do 30 miligrama.

But in ancient times before tooth brushing,

Ali u drevnim vremenima pre pranja zuba,

up to 600 milligrams might have built up on the teeth

moglo je da se nakupi do 600 miligrama na zubima

over a lifetime.

tokom života.

And what's really important about dental calculus

Ono što je jako važno kod zubnog kamenca

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

je da se fosilizuje kao ostatak kostura,

it's abundant in quantity before the present day

do dana današnjeg ga ima u izobilju

and it's ubiquitous worldwide.

i sveprisutan je širom sveta.

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

Nalazimo ih kod svake populacije širom sveta u svim vremenskim periodima,

going back tens of thousands of years.

desetinama hiljada godina unazad.

And we even find it in neanderthals and animals.

Nalazimo ih čak i u neandertalcima i životinjama.

And so previous studies

Prethodna istraživanja

had only focused on microscopy.

fokusirala su se samo na mikroskopiju.

They'd looked at dental calculus under a microscope,

Posmatrali su zubni kamenac pod mikroskopom,

and what they had found was things like pollen

i našli su stvari poput polena

and plant starches,

i biljnog skroba,

and they'd found muscle cells from animal meats

našli su mišićne ćelije životinjskog mesa

and bacteria.

i bakterije.

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

Tako je moj tim istraživača, ono što smo hteli da uradimo,

is say, can we apply

je recimo, da li možemo da primenimo

genetic and proteomic technology

genetičku i proteomičku tehnologiju

to go after DNA and proteins,

da tražimo DNK i proteine,

and from this can we get better taxonomic resolution

i da li tako možemo dobiti bolju taksonomsku sliku

to really understand what's going on?

da zaista razumemo šta se dešava.

And what we found

Ono što smo našli

is that we can find many commensal and pathogenic bacteria

je da možemo naći mnogo komensalnih i patogenih bakterija

that inhabited the nasal passages and mouth.

koje su nastanjivale nazalne prolaze i usta.

We also have found immune proteins

Takođe smo našli imune proteine

related to infection and inflammation

koje se odnose na infekcije i upale

and proteins and DNA related to diet.

i proteine i DNK koje se odnose na ishranu.

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

Ono što nam je bilo iznenađujuće, i takođe baš uzbudljivo,

is we also found bacteria

je što smo našli bakterije

that normally inhabit upper respiratory systems.

koje su obično nastanjene u gornjim delovima disajnih sistema.

So it gives us virtual access to the lungs,

To nam pruža virtualni pristup plućima,

which is where many important diseases reside.

gde boravi mnogo važnih bolesti.

And we also found bacteria

Takođe smo našli bakterije

that normally inhabit the gut.

koje obično nastanjuju stomak.

And so we can also now virtually gain access

Tako možemo imati vritualni pristup

to this even more distant organ system

ovom još udaljenijem sistemu organa

that, from the skeleton alone,

koji se, samo od kostura,

has long decomposed.

davno raspao.

And so by applying ancient DNA sequencing

Primenom sekvenciranja drevnih DNK

and protein mass spectrometry technologies

i tehnologijom spektrometrije mase proteina

to ancient dental calculus,

na drevnom zubnom kamencu,

we can generate immense quantities of data

možemo da stvorimo ogromne količine informacija

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

koje možemo da koristimo da izgradimo detaljnu sliku

of the dynamic interplay

dinamičnog međusobnog dejstva

between diet, infection and immunity

ishrane, infekcije i imuniteta

thousands of years ago.

pre hiljada godina.

So what started out as an idea,

Ono što je počelo kao ideja,

is now being implemented

sprovodi se sada

to churn out millions of sequences

da se dobiju milioni sekvenci

that we can use to investigate

koje možemo da koristimo da istražimo

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

dugoročnu evolutivnu istoriju ljudskog zdravlja i bolesti,

right down to the genetic code of individual pathogens.

sve do genetskog koda pojedinačnih patogena.

And from this information

Iz ovih informacija

we can learn about how pathogens evolve

možemo da naučimo kako su se patogeni razvijali

and also why they continue to make us sick.

kao i zašto i dalje obolevamo od njih.

And I hope I have convinced you

Nadam se da sam vas ubedila

of the value of dental calculus.

koliko je zubni kamenac vredan.

And as a final parting thought,

Kao poslednja misao pre rastanka,

on behalf of future archeologists,

u ime budućih arheologa,

I would like to ask you to please think twice

zamolila bih vas da dvaput razmilsite

before you go home and brush your teeth.

pre nego što odete kući i operete zube.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)