Redefining the treponemal history through pre-Columbian genomes from Brazil
Majander, Kerttu (University of Zurich. Institute of Evolutionary Medicine)
Pla-Díaz, Marta (Universidad de Valencia. Unidad Mixta Infección y Salud Pública)
du Plessis, Louis (ETH Zürich. Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering)
Arora, Natasha (University of Zurich. Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine)
Filippini, Jose (Universidade de São Paulo. Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva)
Pezo-Lanfranco, Luis (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Eggers, Sabine (Natural History Museum Vienna. Department of Anthropology)
González-Candelas, Fernando (Instituto de Salud Carlos III. CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública)
Schuenemann, Verena J. (University of Basel. Department of Environmental Sciences)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria

Date:	2024
Abstract:	The origins of treponemal diseases have long remained unknown, especially considering the sudden onset of the first syphilis epidemic in the late 15th century in Europe and its hypothesized arrival from the Americas with Columbus' expeditions1,2. Recently, ancient DNA evidence has revealed various treponemal infections circulating in early modern Europe and colonial-era Mexico3,4,5,6. However, there has been to our knowledge no genomic evidence of treponematosis recovered from either the Americas or the Old World that can be reliably dated to the time before the first trans-Atlantic contacts. Here, we present treponemal genomes from nearly 2,000-year-old human remains from Brazil. We reconstruct four ancient genomes of a prehistoric treponemal pathogen, most closely related to the bejel-causing agent Treponema pallidum endemicum. Contradicting the modern day geographical niche of bejel in the arid regions of the world, the results call into question the previous palaeopathological characterization of treponeme subspecies and showcase their adaptive potential. A high-coverage genome is used to improve molecular clock date estimations, placing the divergence of modern T. pallidum subspecies firmly in pre-Columbian times. Overall, our study demonstrates the opportunities within archaeogenetics to uncover key events in pathogen evolution and emergence, paving the way to new hypotheses on the origin and spread of treponematoses.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación BFU2017-89594R Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2021-127010OB-100 Ministerio de Educación FPU17/02367
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Brazil ; Europe ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Syphilis/history ; Treponema pallidum/genetics ; Treponemal Infections/epidemiology ; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Published in:	Nature, Vol. 627 (March 2024) , p. 182-188, ISSN 1476-4687

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06965-x
PMID: 38267579

26 p, 8.4 MB

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