Detection of Yellow Fever Virus in Human Remains Using Mass Spectrometry-Based Protein Analysis of Dental Pulp

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The goal of this project was to determine if the yellow fever virus (YFV) could be detected in historic remains by analyzing the proteins found in the dental pulp of the remains. Typical YF diagnostic techniques rely on blood or liver tissue so when these tissues are not recoverable, YF detection is currently limited. In order to meet the objectives of the study, a retrograde collection method was used to extract dental pulp on modern teeth and will be used on teeth from a known yellow fever victim and teeth from a historical cemetery site. The three different populations serve as a negative control, positive control, and the unknown population for the purpose of yellow fever detection, respectively. Following the dental pulp extraction, the pulp was subject to a protein extraction methodology and was analyzed via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The aim of using mass spectrometry technology is to detect both blood proteins (to validate the dental pulp extraction method) and to detect YF specific proteins (with the capsid protein being the primary protein of interest). If YF fever specific proteins are detectable in the dental pulp, this research could prove valuable for the fields of archaeology and paleomicrobiology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38365.0