A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Ancient Bacterial Genomes Reveal a High Diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in Early Modern Europe
Authors: Kerttu Majander, Saskia Pfrengle, Arthur Kocher, Judith Neukamm, Louis du Plessis, Marta Pla-Díaz M, Natasha Arora, Gülfirde Akgül, Kati Salo, Rachel Schats, Sarah Inskip, Markku Oinonen, Heiki Valk, Martin Malve, Aivar Kriiska, Päivi Onkamo, Fernando González-Candelas, Denise Kühnert, Johannes Krause, Verena J. Schuenemann
Publisher: CELL PRESS
Publication year: 2020
Journal: Current Biology
Journal name in source: CURRENT BIOLOGY
Journal acronym: CURR BIOL
Volume: 30
Issue: 19
First page : 3788
Last page: 3083
Number of pages: 26
ISSN: 0960-9822
eISSN: 1879-0445
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/50182530
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 pallidumin 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.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
