Genome-Wide Comparison of Medieval and Modern Mycobacterium leprae

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 341; no. 6142; pp. 179 - 183
• Main Authors: Schuenemann, Verena J., Singh, Pushpendra, Mendum, Thomas A., Krause-Kyora, Ben, Jäger, Günter, Bos, Kirsten I., Herbig, Alexander, Economou, Christos, Benjak, Andrej, Busso, Philippe, Nebel, Almut, Boldsen, Jesper L., Kjellström, Anna, Wu, Huihai, Stewart, Graham R., Taylor, G. Michael, Bauer, Peter, Lee, Oona Y.-C., Wu, Houdini H. T., Minnikin, David E., Besra, Gurdyal S., Tucker, Katie, Roffey, Simon, Sow, Samba O., Cole, Stewart T., Nieselt, Kay, Krause, Johannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 12.07.2013; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Antiquities; Bone and Bones - microbiology; Denmark; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Dispersal; DNA; DNA, Bacterial - chemistry; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Drugs; Endemic Diseases - history; European history; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Genetic markers; Genome, Bacterial - genetics; Genomes; Genomics; Genotypes; Historic; History, Medieval; Humans; Leprosy; Leprosy - epidemiology; Leprosy - history; Leprosy - microbiology; Links; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium leprae - classification; Mycobacterium leprae - genetics; Mycobacterium leprae - isolation & purification; Mycolic acids; Mycolic Acids - chemistry; Nucleotides; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Sequencing; Skeleton; Strain; Sweden; Tooth - microbiology; United Kingdom; Virulence; Europe
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1238286

Leprosy was endemic in Europe until the Middle Ages. Using DNA array capture, we have obtained genome sequences of Mycobacterium leprae from skeletons of five medieval leprosy cases from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In one case, the DNA was so well preserved that full de novo assembly of the ancient bacterial genome could be achieved through shotgun sequencing alone. The ancient M. leprae sequences were compared with those of 11 modern strains, representing diverse genotypes and geographic origins. The comparisons revealed remarkable genomic conservation during the past 1000 years, a European origin for leprosy in the Americas, and the presence of an M. leprae genotype in medieval Europe now commonly associated with the Middle East. The exceptional preservation of M. leprae biomarkers, both DNA and mycolic acids, in ancient skeletons has major implications for palaeomicrobiology and human pathogen evolution.