Viridiana Villa-Islas

This study identifies dental enamel proteins in ancient human dental calculus, expanding its use beyond diet and microbiome analysis to include sex estimation.

This study identifies ancient S. enterica Paratyphi C DNA in 19th-century Mexico, linking it to European strains and showing its persistence in urban settings.

The paper identifies a Denisovan-like MUC19 haplotype in Indigenous Americans and Neanderthals, showing it is under positive selection and has high copy numbers of a tandem repeat.

This study evaluates decontamination methods for ancient proteins, finding that a brief bleach wash effectively removes modern contamination without damaging endogenous proteins from Pleistocene specimens.

The paper analyzes pre-Hispanic genetic data from Mexico to show population continuity despite climate change and identifies an ancient unsampled ghost population's contribution.

The paper sequences 24 ancient Brazilian genomes, including 22 Botocudos, revealing Indigenous American ancestry without external gene flow and low heterozygosity, and identifies ancient pathogen lineages.

This study reconstructs ancient viral genomes from Colonial-era remains in Mexico, linking their origin to Africa via the transatlantic slave trade.

This study analyzes 76 exomes from five Mexican indigenous populations to infer population history and identify genes under positive selection.