Achtman, Mark (2016) How old are bacterial pathogens? Proceeding of the Royal Society B, 286 (1836). ISSN 0962-8452.

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Abstract

Only few molecular studies have addressed the age of bacterial pathogens that infected humans before the beginnings of medical bacteriology, but these have provided dramatic insights. The global genetic diversity of Helicobacter pylori, which infects human stomachs, parallels that of its human host. The time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (tMRCA) of these bacteria approximates that of anatomically modern humans, i.e. at least 100,000 years, after calibrating the evolutionary divergence within H. pylori against major ancient human migrations. Similarly, genomic reconstructions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis, from ancient skeletons in South America and mummies in Hungary support estimates of <6,000 years for the tMRCA of M. tuberculosis. Finally, modern global patterns of genetic diversity and ancient DNA studies indicate that during the last 5,000 years plague caused by Yersinia pestis has spread globally on multiple occasions from China and Central Asia. Such tMRCA estimates provide only lower bounds on the ages of bacterial pathogens, and additional studies are needed for realistic upper bounds on how long humans and animals have suffered from bacterial diseases.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Microbiology & Infection Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Sciences > Translational & Experimental Medicine Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Diseases -- Genetic aspects -- History, Plague -- Genetic aspects -- History, Tuberculosis -- Genetic aspects -- History, Gastritis -- Genetic aspects -- History, DNA, Fossil , Comparative genomics
Journal or Publication Title:	Proceeding of the Royal Society B
Publisher:	The Royal Society Publishing
ISSN:	0962-8452
Official Date:	17 August 2016
Dates:	Date Event 17 August 2016 Published 21 July 2016 Accepted 5 May 2016 Submitted
Volume:	286
Number:	1836
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	15 August 2016
Date of first compliant Open Access:	17 August 2017
Funder:	Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Genetik, Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, University College, Cork, University of Warwick

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