Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria

Michel, Megan; Skourtanioti, Eirini; Pierini, Federica; Guevara, Evelyn K.; Mötsch, Angela; Kocher, Arthur; Barquera, Rodrigo; Bianco, Raffaela A.; Carlhoff, Selina; Coppola Bove, Lorenza; Freilich, Suzanne; Giffin, Karen; Hermes, Taylor; Hiß, Alina Naomi; Knolle, Florian; Nelson, Elizabeth A.; Neumann, Gunnar; Papac, Luka; Penske, Sandra; Rohrlach, Adam B.; Salem, Nada; Semerau, Lena; Villalba-Mouco, Vanessa; Abadie, Isabelle; Aldenderfer, Mark; Beckett, Jessica F.; Brown, Matthew; Campus, Franco G. R.; Chenghwa, Tsang; Cruz Berrocal, María; Damašek, Ladislav; Duffett Carlson, Kellie Sara; Durand, Raphaël; Ernée, Michal; Fântăneanu, Cristinel; Frenzel, Hannah; García Atiénzar, Gabriel; Guillén, Sonia; Hsieh, Ellen; Karwowski, Maciej; Kelvin, David; Kelvin, Nikki; Khokhlov, Alexander; Kinaston, Rebecca L.; Korolev, Arkadii; Krettek, Kim-Louise; Küßner, Mario; Lai, Luca; Look, Cory; Majander, Kerttu; Mandl, Kirsten; Mazzarello, Vittorio; McCormick, Michael; de Miguel Ibáñez, Patxuka; Murphy, Reg; Németh, Rita E.; Nordqvist, Kerkko; Novotny, Friederike; Obenaus, Martin; Olmo-Enciso, Lauro; Onkamo, Päivi; Orschiedt, Jörg; Patrushev, Valerii; Peltola, Sanni; Romero, Alejandro; Rubino, Salvatore; Sajantila, Antti; Salazar-García, Domingo C.; Serrano, Elena; Shaydullaev, Shapulat; Sias, Emanuela; Šlaus, Mario; Stančo, Ladislav; Swanston, Treena; Teschler-Nicola, Maria; Valentin, Frederique; Van de Vijver, Katrien; Varney, Tamara L.; Vigil-Escalera Guirado, Alfonso; Waters, Christopher K.; Weiss-Krejci, Estella; Winter, Eduard; Lamnidis, Thiseas C.; Prüfer, Kay; Nägele, Kathrin; Spyrou, Maria; Schiffels, Stephan; Stockhammer, Philipp W.; Haak, Wolfgang; Posth, Cosimo; Warinner, Christina; Bos, Kirsten I.; Herbig, Alexander; Krause, Johannes

doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07546-2

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons222878

Michel, Megan
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222963

Skourtanioti, Eirini
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons186229

Pierini, Federica
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons266746

Guevara, Evelyn K.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222875

Mötsch, Angela
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons247389

Kocher, Arthur
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons214002

Barquera, Rodrigo
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons239635

Bianco, Raffaela A.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons264880

Carlhoff, Selina
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons299126

Coppola Bove, Lorenza
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons265004

Freilich, Suzanne
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons221579

Giffin, Karen
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons260176

Hermes, Taylor
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons272432

Hiß, Alina Naomi
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons239489

Neumann, Gunnar
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons222931

Papac, Luka
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons247910

Penske, Sandra
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons247243

Rohrlach, Adam B.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons299129

Salem, Nada
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons287336

Semerau, Lena
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons231928

Villalba-Mouco, Vanessa
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons287363

Peltola, Sanni
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons224809

Lamnidis, Thiseas C.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons72912

Prüfer, Kay
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons207357

Nägele, Kathrin
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons189338

Spyrou, Maria
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons188297

Schiffels, Stephan
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons207359

Stockhammer, Philipp W.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons186115

Haak, Wolfgang
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons188736

Posth, Cosimo
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons221103

Warinner, Christina
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons188392

Bos, Kirsten I.
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons179620

Herbig, Alexander
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons72801

Krause, Johannes
Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 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)

Michel_Ancient_Nature_2024.pdf
(Publisher version), 15MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Michel, M., Skourtanioti, E., Pierini, F., Guevara, E. K., Mötsch, A., Kocher, A., et al. (2024). Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria. Nature, 631(8019), 125-133. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07546-2.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-6E53-9

Abstract

Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species1. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe1,2. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae from 16 countries spanning around 5,500 years of human history. We identified P. vivax and P. falciparum across geographically disparate regions of Eurasia from as early as the fourth and first millennia BCE, respectively; for P. vivax, this evidence pre-dates textual references by several millennia3. Genomic analysis supports distinct disease histories for P. falciparum and P. vivax in the Americas: similarities between now-eliminated European and peri-contact South American strains indicate that European colonizers were the source of American P. vivax, whereas the trans-Atlantic slave trade probably introduced P. falciparum into the Americas. Our data underscore the role of cross-cultural contacts in the dissemination of malaria, laying the biomolecular foundation for future palaeo-epidemiological research into the impact of Plasmodium parasites on human history. Finally, our unexpected discovery of P. falciparum in the high-altitude Himalayas provides a rare case study in which individual mobility can be inferred from infection status, adding to our knowledge of cross-cultural connectivity in the region nearly three millennia ago.