Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago

Simon Rasmussen; Morten Erik Allentoft; Kasper Nielsen; Ludovic Antoine Alexandre Orlando; Martin Sikora; Karl-Göran Sjögren; Anders Gorm Pedersen; Mikkel Schubert; Alex Van Dam; Christian Moliin Outzen Kapel; Henrik Bjørn Nielsen; Søren Brunak; Pavel Avetisyan; Andrey Epimakhov; Mikhail Viktorovich Khalyapin; Artak Gnuni; Aivar Kriiska; Irena Lasak; Mait Metspalu; Vyacheslav Moiseyev; Andrei Gromov; Dalia Pokutta; Lehti Saag; Liivi Varul; Levon Yepiskoposyan; Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten; Robert A Foley; Marta Mirazón Lahr; Rasmus Nielsen; Kristian Kristiansen; Eske Willerslev

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.009

Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago

Simon Rasmussen, Morten Erik Allentoft, Kasper Nielsen, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre Orlando, Martin Sikora, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Anders Gorm Pedersen, Mikkel Schubert, Alex Van Dam, Christian Moliin Outzen Kapel, Henrik Bjørn Nielsen, Søren Brunak, Pavel Avetisyan, Andrey Epimakhov, Mikhail Viktorovich Khalyapin, Artak Gnuni, Aivar Kriiska, Irena Lasak, Mait Metspalu, Vyacheslav MoiseyevAndrei Gromov, Dalia Pokutta, Lehti Saag, Liivi Varul, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten, Robert A Foley, Marta Mirazón Lahr, Rasmus Nielsen, Kristian Kristiansen, Eske Willerslev

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Abstract

Summary The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.

Original language	English
Journal	Cell
Volume	163
Issue number	3
Pages (from-to)	571-582
Number of pages	12
ISSN	0092-8674
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.009
Publication status	Published - 22 Oct 2015

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Rasmussen, S., Allentoft, M. E., Nielsen, K., Orlando, L. A. A., Sikora, M., Sjögren, K.-G., Pedersen, A. G., Schubert, M., Van Dam, A., Kapel, C. M. O., Nielsen, H. B., Brunak, S., Avetisyan, P., Epimakhov, A., Khalyapin, M. V., Gnuni, A., Kriiska, A., Lasak, I., Metspalu, M., ... Willerslev, E. (2015). Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago. Cell, 163(3), 571-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.009

Rasmussen, S , Allentoft, ME, Nielsen, K, Orlando, LAA, Sikora, M, Sjögren, K-G, Pedersen, AG, Schubert, M, Van Dam, A, Kapel, CMO, Nielsen, HB, Brunak, S, Avetisyan, P, Epimakhov, A, Khalyapin, MV, Gnuni, A, Kriiska, A, Lasak, I, Metspalu, M, Moiseyev, V, Gromov, A, Pokutta, D, Saag, L, Varul, L, Yepiskoposyan, L, Sicheritz-Ponten, T, Foley, RA, Lahr, MM, Nielsen, R, Kristiansen, K & Willerslev, E 2015, 'Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago', Cell, vol. 163, no. 3, pp. 571-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.009

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abstract = "Summary The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.",

author = "Simon Rasmussen and Allentoft, {Morten Erik} and Kasper Nielsen and Orlando, {Ludovic Antoine Alexandre} and Martin Sikora and Karl-G{\"o}ran Sj{\"o}gren and Pedersen, {Anders Gorm} and Mikkel Schubert and {Van Dam}, Alex and Kapel, {Christian Moliin Outzen} and Nielsen, {Henrik Bj{\o}rn} and S{\o}ren Brunak and Pavel Avetisyan and Andrey Epimakhov and Khalyapin, {Mikhail Viktorovich} and Artak Gnuni and Aivar Kriiska and Irena Lasak and Mait Metspalu and Vyacheslav Moiseyev and Andrei Gromov and Dalia Pokutta and Lehti Saag and Liivi Varul and Levon Yepiskoposyan and Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten and Foley, {Robert A} and Lahr, {Marta Miraz{\'o}n} and Rasmus Nielsen and Kristian Kristiansen and Eske Willerslev",

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AU - Allentoft, Morten Erik

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AU - Orlando, Ludovic Antoine Alexandre

AU - Sikora, Martin

AU - Sjögren, Karl-Göran

AU - Pedersen, Anders Gorm

AU - Schubert, Mikkel

AU - Van Dam, Alex

AU - Kapel, Christian Moliin Outzen

AU - Nielsen, Henrik Bjørn

AU - Brunak, Søren

AU - Avetisyan, Pavel

AU - Epimakhov, Andrey

AU - Khalyapin, Mikhail Viktorovich

AU - Gnuni, Artak

AU - Kriiska, Aivar

AU - Lasak, Irena

AU - Metspalu, Mait

AU - Moiseyev, Vyacheslav

AU - Gromov, Andrei

AU - Pokutta, Dalia

AU - Saag, Lehti

AU - Varul, Liivi

AU - Yepiskoposyan, Levon

AU - Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas

AU - Foley, Robert A

AU - Lahr, Marta Mirazón

AU - Nielsen, Rasmus

AU - Kristiansen, Kristian

AU - Willerslev, Eske

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N2 - Summary The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.

AB - Summary The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.

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DO - 10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.009

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Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago

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