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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Ancient bacterial genomes reveal a high diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in early Modern Europe
Rachel SchatsMarkku OinonenArthur KocherGülfirde AkgülMartin MalveKati SaloPäivi OnkamoPäivi OnkamoDenise KühnertFernando González-candelasKerttu MajanderJudith NeukammJudith NeukammNatasha AroraHeiki ValkLouis Du PlessisJohannes KrauseJohannes KrauseMarta Pla-díazSarah InskipSaskia PfrengleSaskia PfrengleVerena J. SchuenemannVerena J. SchuenemannAivar Kriiskasubject
0301 basic medicineLineage (evolution)TPRKDiseaseSubspeciesANNOTATION0302 clinical medicineEPIDEMIOLOGYHistory 15th CenturyTreponemaAncient DNAbiologyORIGINAncient DNA; Pathogen evolution; Treponema pallidum; Syphilis; Yaws2800 General Neuroscience10218 Institute of Legal Medicine3. Good healthEuropeMANIFESTATIONSArchaeologySister group1181 Ecology evolutionary biologyGeneral Agricultural and Biological Sciences610 Medicine & healthGenetics and Molecular Biology1100 General Agricultural and Biological SciencesPathogen evolutionGeneral Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular BiologyUFSP13-7 Evolution in Action: From Genomes to Ecosystems03 medical and health sciences1300 General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular BiologymedicineHumansSYPHILIS SPIROCHETETreponema pallidumSyphilisDNA AncientIDENTIFICATIONGenetic Variationbiology.organism_classificationmedicine.diseaseHistory MedievalDNA-SEQUENCES030104 developmental biologyAncient DNAEvolutionary biologyYaws11294 Institute of Evolutionary MedicineGeneral BiochemistryVISUALIZATIONSyphilisEarly modern EuropeGenome Bacterial030217 neurology & neurosurgerydescription
Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15th century. Together with non-venereal treponemal diseases, like bejel and yaws, which are found today in subtropical and tropical regions, it currently poses a substantial health threat worldwide. The origins and spread of treponemal diseases remain unresolved, including syphilis’ potential introduction into Europe from the Americas. Here, we present the first genetic data from archaeological human remains reflecting a high diversity of Treponema pallidum in early modern Europe. Our study demonstrates that a variety of strains related to both venereal syphilis and yaws-causing T. pallidum subspecies were already present in Northern Europe in the early modern period. We also discovered a previously unknown T. pallidum lineage recovered as a sister group to yaws- and bejel-causing lineages. These findings imply a more complex pattern of geographical distribution and etiology of early treponemal epidemics than previously understood.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-10-05 |