Open AccessStone Age Yersinia pestis genomes shed light on the early evolution, diversity, and ecology of plague
Author(s) -
Aida Andrades Valtueña,
Gunnar U. Neumann,
Maria A. Spyrou,
Lyazzat Musralina,
Franziska Aron,
Арман Бейсенов,
Andrey Belinskiy,
Kirsten I. Bos,
А.П. Бужилова,
Matthias Conrad,
Leyla Djansugurova,
Miroslav Dobeš,
Michal Ernée,
Javier Fernández-Eraso,
Bruno Frøhlich,
Mirosław Furmanek,
Agata Hałuszko,
Svend Hansen,
Éadaoin Harney,
Alina Hiß,
Alexander Hübner,
Felix M. Key,
Elmira Khussainova,
Egor Kitov,
Alexandra Kitova,
Corina Knipper,
Denise Kühnert,
Carles LaluezaFox,
Judith Littleton,
Ken Massy,
Alissa Mittnik,
José Antonio Mujika-Alustiza,
Íñigo Olalde,
Luka Papac,
Sandra Penske,
Jaroslav Peška,
Ron Pinhasi,
David Reich,
Sabine Reinhold,
Raphaela Stahl,
Harald Stäuble,
Rezeda I. Tukhbatova,
Sergey Vasilyev,
Elizaveta Veselovskaya,
Christina Warinner,
Philipp W. Stockhammer,
Wolfgang Haak,
Johannes Krause,
Alexander Herbig
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2116722119
Subject(s) - yersinia pestis , plague (disease) , biology , biological dispersal , ancient dna , evolutionary biology , flea , adaptation (eye) , ecology , genome , yersiniosis , bird migration , outbreak , lineage (genetic) , zoology , geography , genetics , demography , archaeology , gene , virulence , population , virology , escherichia coli , enterobacteriaceae , sociology , neuroscience
Significance The bacteriumYersinia pestis has caused numerous historically documented outbreaks of plague and research using ancient DNA could demonstrate that it already affected human populations during the Neolithic. However, the pathogen’s genetic diversity, geographic spread, and transmission dynamics during this early period ofY. pestis evolution are largely unexplored. Here, we describe a set of ancient plague genomes up to 5,000 y old from across Eurasia. Our data demonstrate that two genetically distinct forms ofY. pestis evolved in parallel and were both distributed across vast geographic distances, potentially occupying different ecological niches. Interpreted within the archeological context, our results suggest that the spread of plague during this period was linked to increased human mobility and intensification of animal husbandry.