Study finds active yeasts on 5,300-year-old mummy Ötzi (opens in new tab)

In a study published June 3 in Microbiome, researchers at Eurac Research reported a detailed survey of the microbiome of Ötzi, the 5,300-year-old natural mummy found in the Ötztal Alps. The team identified genetic material from bacteria belonging to Ötzi’s original gut flora and cold-adapted yeasts, likely from the glacial environment, that colonized the body after death and persisted while the mummy has been kept at about minus 6 degrees Celsius. The researchers said some of the fungi and ba...