Articlegold2018

Historic Treponema pallidum genomes from Colonial Mexico retrieved from archaeological remains

Verena J. Schuenemann · Aditya Kumar Lankapalli · Rodrigo Barquera · Elizabeth A. Nelson · Diana Iraíz Hernández-Zaragoza · Víctor Acuña-Alonzo +4 more

87 citations0/0 files storedPLoS neglected tropical diseases

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Paleopathology and ancient diseases History of Medicine and Tropical Health Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Treponema pallidum infections occur worldwide causing, among other diseases, syphilis and yaws.In particular sexually transmitted syphilis is regarded as a re-emerging infectious disease with millions of new infections annually.Here we present three historic T. pallidum genomes (two from T. pallidum ssp.pallidum and one from T. pallidum ssp.pertenue) that have been reconstructed from skeletons recovered from the Convent of Santa Isabel in Mexico City, operational between the 17 th and 19 th century.Our analyses indicate that different T. pallidum subspecies caused similar diagnostic presentations that are normally associated with syphilis in infants, and potential evidence of a congenital infection of T. pallidum ssp.pertenue, the causative agent of yaws.This first reconstruction of T. pallidum genomes from archaeological material opens the possibility of studying its evolutionary history at a resolution previously assumed to be out of reach. Author summaryAmong the worldwide prevalent treponemal diseases syphilis is a global threat that is currently re-emerging.The origins of syphilis and other treponemal diseases are as yet unresolved and are subject to an intensive scholarly debate.Until now, assumptions on its origins and evolutionary history could only be drawn from osteological analyses of past cases and genetic analysis of contemporary T. pallidum genomes; contributions from ancient DNA are very rare and have so far failed to provide genome-level data.The ancient T. pallidum genomes presented here allow us, for the first time, to perform genome-wide comparative analyses and to assess a connection between osteological manifestations of past treponemal cases and specific T. pallidum species.Our study demonstrates the possibility of retrieving ancient T. pallidum genomes from archeological

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References

2003Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains 1999Human Skeletal Remains: Excavation, Analysis, Interpretation 1999The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology 1973The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 2000Developmental Juvenile Osteology 2007Patterns of damage in genomic DNA sequences from a Neandertal 1978Human skeletal remains 2011The origin and antiquity of syphilis revisited: An Appraisal of Old World pre‐Columbian evidence for treponemal infection

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2020The Recovery, Interpretation and Use of Ancient Pathogen Genomes 2020Origin and Health Status of First-Generation Africans from Early Colonial Mexico 2019Paleomicrobiology: Diagnosis and Evolution of Ancient Pathogens 2020Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present 2020A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15th century Europe

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