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How old are bacterial pathogens?

Mark Achtman1

  • 1Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK m.achtman@warwick.ac.uk.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|August 19, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Molecular studies reveal ancient origins of human bacterial pathogens. Helicobacter pylori emerged with modern humans over 100,000 years ago, while tuberculosis and plague have more recent, yet significant, histories.

Keywords:
ancient DNAcomparative genomicsgastritishistory of diseaseplaguetuberculosis

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Microbial genomics
  • Paleopathology

Background:

  • Few molecular studies investigate the origins of ancient bacterial pathogens.
  • Understanding pathogen evolution offers insights into human history and disease emergence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To estimate the evolutionary age of key bacterial pathogens using molecular and ancient DNA data.
  • To correlate bacterial pathogen emergence with human migration and history.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenetic analysis of Helicobacter pylori genetic diversity.
  • Genomic reconstruction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from ancient remains.
  • Analysis of ancient DNA and modern population genetics for Yersinia pestis.

Main Results:

  • Helicobacter pylori's most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) dates back at least 100,000 years, aligning with modern human origins.
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis's tMRCA is estimated to be less than 6,000 years old.
  • Yersinia pestis (plague) has had multiple global expansions originating from Central Asia within the last 5,000 years.

Conclusions:

  • Molecular clock estimates provide lower bounds for bacterial pathogen ages.
  • Bacterial pathogen evolution is intricately linked to human migration and history.
  • Further research is needed to establish realistic upper bounds for the duration of human and animal suffering from bacterial diseases.