Retrospective Molecular Medical Diagnosis (Molecular Paleopathology): Advanced Technologies and Historical Outcomes

Molecular paleopathology, a rapidly growing field, offers unprecedented insights into the long-term evolution of human health through the identification and study of ancient molecules. Beyond tracing genetic mutations, this discipline helps illuminate how environmental changes, climate fluctuations, and human migrations have shaped our physiological resilience and vulnerability to infectious and aggressive agents. As populations moved across ecosystems, encountered new pathogens, and faced changing diets, climates and pollutants, their microbiomes — particularly cutaneous and intestinal — evolved in complex and dynamic ways, sometimes with pathological consequences.

This Research Topic aims to explore how ancient molecules reflect the interplay between human biology and environmental pressures. It investigates how genetic variations contributed not only to disease resistance or susceptibility, but also to broader adaptations involving host-pathogen interactions, metabolic processes, and immune responses. Such changes were often mediated by shifts in the environment—temperature, humidity, dietary resources—as well as cultural transitions including the use of medicinal plants, antibiotics, or food preservation techniques that altered microbial exposures.

Key objectives include understanding how these ancient molecular adaptations inform the present-day incidence and distribution of diseases, many of which are shaped by disruptions to our internal and external ecological balance. For instance, ancient modifications in diet and lifestyle, modern overuse of antibiotics and food conservation processes have significantly impacted the human microbiome, potentially reactivating or amplifying latent vulnerabilities inscribed in our evolutionary past.

We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

-Identification and functional interpretation of mutations in ancient molecules
-Influence of climatic and ecological shifts on pathogen evolution and host adaptation
-Co-evolution of the human microbiome (intestinal, cutaneous) and health resilience
-Impact of migrations and population mixing on pathogen transmission and immunity
-Long-term effects of diet and pharmacological interventions on molecules evolution
-Comparative studies of ancient versus modern molecules in the context of environmental change
-Methodological innovations for detecting and analyzing ancient molecules

By integrating molecular paleopathology with environmental and biomedical perspectives, this Research Topic seeks to foster a holistic view of how the delicate balance between humans and their ecosystems has shaped—and continues to shape—health outcomes across millennia.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Paleoproteomics, Human-environment interactions, Paleopathology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.