Isolation and Characterization of Live Yeast Cells from Ancient Clay Vessels

Tzemach Aouizerat; Aren M. Maeir; Yitzhak Paz; Yuval Gadot; Amir Szitenberg; Sivan Alkalay-Oren; Shunit Coppenhagen-Glazer; Michael Klutstein; Ronen Hazan

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.3473

Isolation and Characterization of Live Yeast Cells from Ancient Clay Vessels

Tzemach Aouizerat, Aren M. Maeir, Yitzhak Paz, Yuval Gadot, Amir Szitenberg, Sivan Alkalay-Oren, Shunit Coppenhagen-Glazer, Michael Klutstein^*, Ronen Hazan^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Biomedical Research at the Faculty of Dental Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ancient fermented food has been studied mainly based on residue analysis and recipes and reconstruction attempts were performed using modern domesticated yeast. Furthermore, microorganisms which participated in fermentation were studied using ancient-DNA techniques. In a recent paper, we presented a novel approach based on the hypothesis that enriched yeast populations in fermented beverages could have become the dominant species in storage vessels and their descendants could be isolated and studied today. Here we present a pipeline for isolation of yeast from clay vessels uncovered in archeological sites and transferred to the microbiology lab where they can be isolated and characterized. This method opens new avenues for experimental archeology and enables attempts to recreate ancient food and beverages using the original microorganisms.

Original language	American English
Article number	e3473
Number of pages	13
Journal	Bio-protocol
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3473 https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3473
State	Published - 5 Jan 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This protocol was adapted from Aouizerat et al. (2019). Isolation and characterization of live yeast cells from ancient vessels as a tool in bio-archeology. mBio 10(2): e00388-19. We thank Prof. Christina Warinner from University of Jena for her helpful suggestions.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 The Authors; exclusive licensee Bio-protocol LLC.

Keywords

Ancient pottery vessels
Beverages
Bio-archeology
Experimental archaeology
Fermentation
Food
Yeast

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abstract = "Ancient fermented food has been studied mainly based on residue analysis and recipes and reconstruction attempts were performed using modern domesticated yeast. Furthermore, microorganisms which participated in fermentation were studied using ancient-DNA techniques. In a recent paper, we presented a novel approach based on the hypothesis that enriched yeast populations in fermented beverages could have become the dominant species in storage vessels and their descendants could be isolated and studied today. Here we present a pipeline for isolation of yeast from clay vessels uncovered in archeological sites and transferred to the microbiology lab where they can be isolated and characterized. This method opens new avenues for experimental archeology and enables attempts to recreate ancient food and beverages using the original microorganisms.",

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AU - Szitenberg, Amir

AU - Alkalay-Oren, Sivan

AU - Coppenhagen-Glazer, Shunit

AU - Klutstein, Michael

AU - Hazan, Ronen

N1 - Funding Information: This protocol was adapted from Aouizerat et al. (2019). Isolation and characterization of live yeast cells from ancient vessels as a tool in bio-archeology. mBio 10(2): e00388-19. We thank Prof. Christina Warinner from University of Jena for her helpful suggestions. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2020 The Authors; exclusive licensee Bio-protocol LLC.

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N2 - Ancient fermented food has been studied mainly based on residue analysis and recipes and reconstruction attempts were performed using modern domesticated yeast. Furthermore, microorganisms which participated in fermentation were studied using ancient-DNA techniques. In a recent paper, we presented a novel approach based on the hypothesis that enriched yeast populations in fermented beverages could have become the dominant species in storage vessels and their descendants could be isolated and studied today. Here we present a pipeline for isolation of yeast from clay vessels uncovered in archeological sites and transferred to the microbiology lab where they can be isolated and characterized. This method opens new avenues for experimental archeology and enables attempts to recreate ancient food and beverages using the original microorganisms.

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Isolation and Characterization of Live Yeast Cells from Ancient Clay Vessels

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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