Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes
Summary
Our findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease's global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy's global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae's worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions. © 2021. The Author(s).
| Authors | Pfrengle S, Neukamm J, Guellil M, Keller M, Molak M, Avanzi C, Kushniarevich A, Montes N, Neumann GU, Reiter E, Tukhbatova RI, Berezina NY, Buzhilova AP, Korobov DS, Suppersberger Hamre S, Matos VMJ, Ferreira MT, González-Garrido L, Wasterlain SN, Lopes C, Santos AL, Antunes-Ferreira N, Duarte V, Silva AM, Melo L, Sarkic N, Saag L, Tambets K, Busso P, Cole ST, Avlasovich A, Roberts CA, Sheridan A, Cessford C, Robb J, Krause J, Scheib CL, Inskip SA, Schuenemann VJ |
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| Journal | BMC biology |
| Publication Date | 2021 Oct 5;19(1):220 |
| PubMed | 34610848 |
| PubMed Central | PMC8493730 |
| DOI | 10.1186/s12915-021-01120-2 |