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Stone Age Yersinia pestis genomes shed light on the early evolution, diversity, and ecology of plague

2022; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 119; Issue: 17 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.2116722119

1091-6490

Aida Andrades Valtueña, Gunnar U. Neumann, Maria A. Spyrou, Lyazzat Musralina, Franziska Aron, A. Beisenov, Andrey Belinskiy, Kirsten I. Bos, Alexandra Buzhilova, 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, Еgor Kitov, Alexandra Kitova, Corina Knipper, Denise Kühnert, Carles Lalueza‐Fox, Judith Littleton, Ken Massy, Alissa Mittnik, José Antonio Mujika Alustiza, Ïñigo 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,

Forensic and Genetic Research

Significance The bacterium Yersinia 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 of Y. 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 of Y. 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.