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

Andrades Valtueña, Aida; Neumann, Gunnar; Spyrou, Maria A.; Musralina, Lyazzat; Aron, Franziska; Beisenov, Arman; Belinskiy, Andrey B.; Bos, Kirsten I.; Buzhilova, Alexandra; Conrad, Matthias; Djansugurova, Leyla B.; Dobes, Miroslav; Ernee, Michal; Fernandez-Eraso, Javier; Frohlich, Bruno; Furmanek, Mirosław; Hałuszko, Agata; Hansen, Svend; Harney, Eadaoin; Hiss, Alina N.; Hübner, Alexander; Key, Felix M.; Khussainova, Elmira; Kitov, Egor; Kitova, Alexandra O.; Knipper, Corina; Kühnert, Denise; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Littleton, Judith; Massy, Ken; Mittnik, Alissa; Mujika-Alustiza, Jose Antonio; Olalde, Inigo; Papac, Luka; Penske, Sandra Ellen; Peska, Jaroslav; Pinhasi, Ron; Reich, David; Reinhold, Sabine; Stahl, Raphaela; Stäuble, Harald; Tukhbatova, Rezeda I.; Vasilyev, Sergey; Veselovskaya, Elizaveta; Warinner, Christina; Stockhammer, Philipp W.; Haak, Wolfgang; Krause, Johannes; Herbig, Alexander

doi:10.1073/pnas.2116722119

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

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

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons203211

Andrades Valtueña, Aida
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons239489

Neumann, Gunnar
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons259907

Musralina, Lyazzat
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons239676

Aron, Franziska
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons272432

Hiss, Alina N.
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222931

Papac, Luka
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons247910

Penske, Sandra Ellen
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons246189

Stahl, Raphaela
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222993

Tukhbatova, Rezeda I.
Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons186115

Haak, Wolfgang
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons72801

Krause, Johannes
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons179620

Herbig, Alexander
tide, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

shh3196.pdf
(Publisher version), 3MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Andrades Valtueña, A., Neumann, G., Spyrou, M. A., Musralina, L., Aron, F., Beisenov, A., et al. (2022). Stone Age Yersinia pestis genomes shed light on the early evolution, diversity, and ecology of plague. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(17): e2116722119, pp. 1-11. doi:10.1073/pnas.2116722119.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000A-547C-D

Abstract

The bacterial pathogen Yersinia pestis gave rise to devastating outbreaks throughout human history, and ancient DNA evidence has shown it afflicted human populations as far back as the Neolithic. Y. pestis genomes recovered from the Eurasian Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (LNBA) period have uncovered key evolutionary steps that led to its emergence from a Yersinia pseudotuberculosis-like progenitor; however, the number of reconstructed LNBA genomes are too few to explore its diversity during this critical period of development. Here, we present 17 Y. pestis genomes dating to 5,000 to 2,500 y BP from a wide geographic expanse across Eurasia. This increased dataset enabled us to explore correlations between temporal, geographical, and genetic distance. Our results suggest a nonflea-adapted and potentially extinct single lineage that persisted over millennia without significant parallel diversification, accompanied by rapid dispersal across continents throughout this period, a trend not observed in other pathogens for which ancient genomes are available. A stepwise pattern of gene loss provides further clues on its early evolution and potential adaptation. We also discover the presence of the flea-adapted form of Y. pestis in Bronze Age Iberia, previously only identified in in the Caucasus and the Volga regions, suggesting a much wider geographic spread of this form of Y. pestis. Together, these data reveal the dynamic nature of plague’s formative years in terms of its early evolution and ecology.