Postmortem skeletal microbiome of buried remains

Bone is a composite material composed of both organic and inorganic material. During vertebrate decomposition and subsequent skeletonization, it is capable of supporting a dynamic ecosystem of micro- and macroscopic scavengers, ultimately influencing its preservation. However, little remains known regarding the types of microbes able to colonize and potentially degrade bone. Here, we characterized the diverse postmortem bone microbiome, examining microbial communities co-extracted with human DNA from remains in a multi-individual burial, using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. This research expands our knowledge of microbial bone colonizers by including colonizers important in a burial environment.