hide
Free keywords:
Archaeology, Biological anthropology, Genome evolution, Infectious diseases, Tuberculosis
Abstract:
Previous ancient DNA research has shown that Mycobacterium pinnipedii, which today causes
tuberculosis (TB) primarily in pinnipeds, infected human populations living in the coastal
areas of Peru prior to European colonization. Skeletal evidence indicates the presence of TB in
several pre-colonial South and North American populations with minimal access to marine
resources— a scenario incompatible with TB transmission directly from infected pinnipeds or
their tissues. In this study, we investigate the causative agent of TB in ten pre-colonial, non-
coastal individuals from South America. We reconstruct M. pinnipedii genomes (10- to 15-fold
mean coverage) from three contemporaneous individuals from inland Peru and Colombia,
demonstrating the widespread dissemination of M. pinnipedii beyond the coast, either through
human-to-human and/or animal-mediated routes. Overall, our study suggests that TB
transmission in the pre-colonial era Americas involved a more complex transmission pathway
than simple pinniped-to-human transfer.
