Metagenomic analysis of soil samples of Balıkesir/Antandros Ancient City excavation

Microorganisms comprise the majority of living organisms in the biosphere. Due to limited culturing conditions, detection and diagnosis of microorganisms in biosphere can not be made readily. Until now, very few of these organisms have been detected and defined via cultivation methods. Microorganisms which, can not be cultured or haven't been cultured, make up of significant part of microbial diversity. Metagenomic analysis provides information about genetic diversity, population structure and ecological roles that affect human life of these microorganisms after DNA isolation of environmental samples without culturing. Metagenomics plays a significant role discipline auxiliary to various different fields such as medicine, biofuels, biotechnology, agriculture, ecology. Metagenomics, which is started to be widely used in paleomicrobiology studies as well, contributes to microbial evolution studies in human history and gives us a perspective to understand ancient micro ecosystem. In this thesis, DNA isolation of microorganisms in culture-independent soil samples taken directly from Balıkesir/Antandros Ancient City Necropolis was performed and afterwards V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA were multiplied by using PCR method. Replicated regions were sequenced using Illumina MiSeq system. Metagenomic analysis of these sequences was performed using QIIME 1.9.1 and microbial diversity was detected. This study showed that the archaeological findings obtained during the excavations in Antandros Ancient City could be supported by metagenomic data, contribution to archaeological studies can be made with a multidisciplinary perspective and the data obtained can be used to predict and interpret the past. This thesis is important since it is the first study on the metagenomic study in ancient cities in Turkey and it is expected to contribute to new studies in this area.