Phylogeography of the second plague pandemic revealed through analysis of historical Yersinia pestis genomes
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Spyrou, Maria A.
Keller, Marcel
Tukhbatova, Rezeda I.
Scheib, Christiana L.
Nelson, Elizabeth A.
Andrades Valtueà±a, Aida
Neumann, Gunnar U.
Walker, Don
Alterauge, Amelie
Carty, Niamh
Cessford, Craig
Fetz, Hermann
Gourvennec, Michaà«l
Hartle, Robert
Henderson, Michael
von Heyking, Kristin
Inskip, Sarah A.
Kacki, Sacha
Key, Felix M.
Knox, Elizabeth L.
Later, Christian
Maheshwari-Aplin, Prishita
Peters, Joris
Robb, John E.
Schreiber, Jà¼rgen
Kivisild, Toomas
Castex, Dominique
Là¶sch, Sandra
Harbeck, Michaela
Herbig, Alexander
Bos, Kirsten I.
Krause, Johannes
Date published
October 2, 2019
Abstract
The second plague pandemic, caused by Yersinia pestis, devastated Europe and the nearby regions between the 14th and 18th centuries AD. Here we analyse human remains from ten European archaeological sites spanning this period and reconstruct 34 ancient Y. pestis genomes. Our data support an initial entry of the bacterium through eastern Europe, the absence of genetic diversity during the Black Death, and low within-outbreak diversity thereafter. Analysis of post-Black Death genomes shows the diversification of a Y. pestis lineage into multiple genetically distinct clades that may have given rise to more than one disease reservoir in, or close to, Europe. In addition, we show the loss of a genomic region that includes virulence-related genes in strains associated with late stages of the pandemic. The deletion was also identified in genomes connected with the first plague pandemic (541–750 AD), suggesting a comparable evolutionary trajectory of Y. pestis during both events.
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Eesti Teadusagentuur | PRG243 |
Wellcome Trust | 2000368/Z/15/Z |
European Regional Development Fund | 2014-2020.4.01.16-0030 |
Journal title
Nature Communications
Volume
10
Issue
1
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
eISSN
2041-1723
Additional information
The Cambridge work is supported by the Wellcome Trust (Award no. 2000368/Z/15/Z) and St. John’s College, Cambridge (J.E.R., T.K., C.C., C.L.S.); the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Project No. 2014-2020.4.01.16-0030) (C.L.S.); and the Estonian Research Council personal research grant (PRG243) (C.L.S). M.A.S., M.K., K.I.B. and J.K. were supported by the Max Planck Society and the ERC starting grant APGREID (to J.K.). R.T., A.H. and K.I.B. were supported by the Max Planck Society.