Ancient Bacterial Genomes Reveal a High Diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in Early Modern Europe

Kerttu Majander¹, Saskia Pfrengle², Arthur Kocher³, Judith Neukamm⁴, Louis du Plessis⁵, Marta Pla-Díaz⁶, Natasha Arora⁷, Gülfirde Akgül⁸, Kati Salo⁹, Rachel Schats¹⁰, Sarah Inskip¹¹, Markku Oinonen¹², Heiki Valk¹³, Martin Malve¹³, Aivar Kriiska¹³, Päivi Onkamo¹⁴, Fernando González-Candelas⁶, Denise Kühnert³, Johannes Krause¹⁵, Verena J Schuenemann¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: kerttu.majander@uzh.ch.
² Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
³ Transmission, Infection, Diversification and Evolution Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Institute for Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
⁶ Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), Valencia, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
⁷ Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 38F, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁰ Laboratory for Human Osteoarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333CC Leiden, the Netherlands.
¹¹ McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
¹² Laboratory of Chronology, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, 00560 Helsinki, Finland.
¹³ Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Tartumaa, Estonia.
¹⁴ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Department of Biology, University of Turku, Vesilinnantie 5, 20500 Turku, Finland.
¹⁵ Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: krause@shh.mpg.de.
¹⁶ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: verena.schuenemann@iem.uzh.ch.

PMID: 32795443
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058

Free article

Ancient Bacterial Genomes Reveal a High Diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in Early Modern Europe

Kerttu Majander et al. Curr Biol. 2020.

Free article

. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):3788-3803.e10.

doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: kerttu.majander@uzh.ch.
² Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
³ Transmission, Infection, Diversification and Evolution Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Institute for Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics, University of Tübingen, Sand 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
⁶ Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), Valencia, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
⁷ Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁸ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 38F, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁰ Laboratory for Human Osteoarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333CC Leiden, the Netherlands.
¹¹ McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
¹² Laboratory of Chronology, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, 00560 Helsinki, Finland.
¹³ Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, 51005 Tartu, Tartumaa, Estonia.
¹⁴ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Department of Biology, University of Turku, Vesilinnantie 5, 20500 Turku, Finland.
¹⁵ Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: krause@shh.mpg.de.
¹⁶ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: verena.schuenemann@iem.uzh.ch.

PMID: 32795443
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.058

Abstract

Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15^th century. Together with non-venereal treponemal diseases, like bejel and yaws, which are found today in subtropical and tropical regions, it currently poses a substantial health threat worldwide. The origins and spread of treponemal diseases remain unresolved, including syphilis' potential introduction into Europe from the Americas. Here, we present the first genetic data from archaeological human remains reflecting a high diversity of Treponema pallidum in early modern Europe. Our study demonstrates that a variety of strains related to both venereal syphilis and yaws-causing T. pallidum subspecies were already present in Northern Europe in the early modern period. We also discovered a previously unknown T. pallidum lineage recovered as a sister group to yaws- and bejel-causing lineages. These findings imply a more complex pattern of geographical distribution and etiology of early treponemal epidemics than previously understood.

Keywords: Treponema pallidum; ancient DNA; pathogen evolution; syphilis; yaws.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Comment in

Archaeogenetics: What Can Ancient Genomes Tell Us about the Origin of Syphilis?
Beale MA, Lukehart SA. Beale MA, et al. Curr Biol. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):R1092-R1095. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.022. Curr Biol. 2020. PMID: 33022244

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Ancient Bacterial Genomes Reveal a High Diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in Early Modern Europe

Affiliations

Ancient Bacterial Genomes Reveal a High Diversity of Treponema pallidum Strains in Early Modern Europe

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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