Abstract
Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, has been prevalent among humans for at least 5000 years, being accountable for several devastating epidemics in history, including the Black Death. Analyses of the genetic diversity of ancient strains of Y. pestis have shed light on the mechanisms of evolution and the spread of plague in Europe. However, many questions regarding the origins of the pathogen and its long persistence in Europe are still unresolved, especially during the late medieval time period. To address this, we present four newly assembled Y. pestis genomes from Eastern Europe (Poland and Southern Russia), dating from the fifteenth to eighteenth century AD. The analysis of polymorphisms in these genomes and their phylogenetic relationships with other ancient and modern Y. pestis strains may suggest several independent introductions of plague into Eastern Europe or its persistence in different reservoirs. Furthermore, with the reconstruction of a partial Y. pestis genome from rat skeletal remains found in a Polish ossuary, we were able to identify a potential animal reservoir in late medieval Europe. Overall, our results add new information concerning Y. pestis transmission and its evolutionary history in Eastern Europe.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Insights into health and disease from ancient biomolecules’.
Highlights
Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is well known as an infectious agent responsible for the most devastating epidemics in Europe [1]
We present four newly assembled Y. pestis genomes from Eastern Europe (Poland and Southern Russia), dating from the fifteenth to eighteenth century AD
We have reconstructed four genomes of Y. pestis from medieval and early historic human samples from Poland and Southern Russia to broaden our knowledge about the genetic diversity of plague circulating in Eastern Europe during the fifteenth to eighteenth century
Summary
The causative agent of plague, is well known as an infectious agent responsible for the most devastating epidemics in Europe [1]. Natural reservoirs of plague infection are present in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, South America, the western part of North America and in large areas of Asia. These reservoirs are considered the main reason for the impossibility of plague eradication [5], and include ground squirrels, rabbits, hares and other animals [2,3]. Y. pestis was repeatedly reintroduced into Europe from Asia with several waves along major trade routes [15] For this hypothesis to be plausible, high genetic variability reflecting the natural genetic diversity of Y. pestis should be detected in different plague victims. We analysed DNA from rat skull fragments from the Gdańsk ossuary (Poland) to obtain genetic data from a potential animal plague reservoir in Europe
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Schedule a callMore From: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
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