Reply to: Insufficient evidence for natural selection associated with the Black Death

Tauras P Vilgalys¹, Jennifer Klunk^{2

3}, Christian E Demeure⁴, Xiaoheng Cheng⁵, Mari Shiratori¹, Julien Madej⁴, Rémi Beau⁴, Derek Elli⁶, Maria I Patino¹, Rebecca Redfern⁷, Sharon N DeWitte⁸, Julia A Gamble⁹, Jesper L Boldsen¹⁰, Ann Carmichael¹¹, Nükhet Varlik¹², Katherine Eaton², Jean-Christophe Grenier¹³, G Brian Golding², Alison Devault³, Jean-Marie Rouillard^{3

14}, Vania Yotova¹⁵, Renata Sindeaux¹⁵, Chun Jimmie Ye^{16

17}, Matin Bikaran^{16

17}, Anne Dumaine¹, Jessica F Brinkworth^{18

19}, Dominique Missiakas⁶, Guy A Rouleau²⁰, Matthias Steinrücken^{5

21}, Javier Pizarro-Cerdá⁴, Hendrik N Poinar^{22

23

24}, Luis B Barreiro^{25

26

27}

Affiliations

¹ Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
² McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
³ Daicel Arbor Biosciences, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁴ Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Yersinia Research Unit, Microbiology Department, Paris, France.
⁵ Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Ricketts Laboratory, University of Chicago, Lemont, IL, USA.
⁷ Centre for Human Bioarchaeology, Museum of London, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
¹⁰ Unit of Anthropology (ADBOU), Department of Forensic Medicine University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
¹¹ History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
¹² Department of History, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
¹³ Montreal Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁵ Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁶ Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁹ Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
²⁰ Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
²¹ Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
²² McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²³ Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²⁴ Humans and the Microbiome Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²⁵ Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.
²⁶ Committee on Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.
²⁷ Committee on Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.

PMID: 39972229
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08497-4

Reply to: Insufficient evidence for natural selection associated with the Black Death

Tauras P Vilgalys et al. Nature. 2025 Feb.

. 2025 Feb;638(8051):E23-E29.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08497-4.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
² McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
³ Daicel Arbor Biosciences, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁴ Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Yersinia Research Unit, Microbiology Department, Paris, France.
⁵ Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Ricketts Laboratory, University of Chicago, Lemont, IL, USA.
⁷ Centre for Human Bioarchaeology, Museum of London, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
¹⁰ Unit of Anthropology (ADBOU), Department of Forensic Medicine University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
¹¹ History Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
¹² Department of History, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
¹³ Montreal Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁵ Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
¹⁶ Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁹ Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
²⁰ Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
²¹ Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
²² McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Biochemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²³ Michael G. DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²⁴ Humans and the Microbiome Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. poinarh@mcmaster.ca.
²⁵ Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.
²⁶ Committee on Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.
²⁷ Committee on Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. lbarreiro@uchicago.edu.

PMID: 39972229
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08497-4

No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: J.K., A. Devault and J.-M.R. declare financial interest in Daicel Arbor Biosciences, who provided the myBaits hybridization capture kits for this study. The other authors declare no competing interests.

References

1. Barton, A. R. et al. Insufficient evidence for natural selection associated with the Black Death. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08496-5 (2025).
1. Klunk, J. et al. Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death. Nature 611, 312–319 (2022). - DOI - PubMed - PMC
1. Hamilton, F. et al. Variation in ERAP2 has opposing effects on severe respiratory infection and autoimmune disease. Am. J. Hum. Genet. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.02.008 (2023). - DOI - PubMed - PMC
1. Klunk, J. et al. Author Correction: Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08522-6 (2025).
1. International HapMap Consortium. A second generation human haplotype map of over 3.1 million SNPs. Nature 449, 851–861 (2007). - DOI

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Reply to: Insufficient evidence for natural selection associated with the Black Death

Affiliations

Reply to: Insufficient evidence for natural selection associated with the Black Death

Authors

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources