Actifensin Evolution in the Human Oral Cavity over the Past 100,000 Years.

ABSTRACT: Bacterially produced antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), or bacteriocins, play key roles in shaping microbial communities via interspecies competition. Unlike the more temporally dynamic gut microbiome, the oral microbiome exhibits long-term stability and is preserved into deep time in dental calculus, enabling evolutionary analysis across time. Here, we combine metagenomics, structural modeling, and experimental validation to investigate AMP diversity in ancient and modern dental biofilms from humans, Neanderthals, and nonhuman primates spanning 100,000 years. Using our newly developed platform, AMPcombi, we uncover evolutionary trajectories of bacteriocins and elucidate their ecological functions. Among these, we identify a conserved family of Actinomyces-derived defensin-like peptides, terme

SUBMITTER: Herbst R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12766674 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature