Dataset Information

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.

ABSTRACT: Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.

SUBMITTER: Lazaridis I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10019558 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.

Lazaridis Iosif I Alpaslan-Roodenberg Songül S Acar Ayşe A Açıkkol Ayşen A Agelarakis Anagnostis A Aghikyan Levon L Akyüz Uğur U Andreeva Desislava D Andrijašević Gojko G Antonović Dragana D Armit Ian I Atmaca Alper A Avetisyan Pavel P Aytek Ahmet İhsan Aİ Bacvarov Krum K Badalyan Ruben R Bakardzhiev Stefan S Balen Jacqueline J Bejko Lorenc L Bernardos Rebecca R Bertsatos Andreas A Biber Hanifi H Bilir Ahmet A Bodružić Mario M Bonogofsky Michelle M Bonsall Clive C Borić Dušan D Borovinić Nikola N Bravo Morante Guillermo G Buttinger Katharina K Callan Kim K Candilio Francesca F Carić Mario M Cheronet Olivia O Chohadzhiev Stefan S Chovalopoulou Maria-Eleni ME Chryssoulaki Stella S Ciobanu Ion I Čondić Natalija N Constantinescu Mihai M Cristiani Emanuela E Culleton Brendan J BJ Curtis Elizabeth E Davis Jack J Demcenco Tatiana I TI Dergachev Valentin V Derin Zafer Z Deskaj Sylvia S Devejyan Seda S Djordjević Vojislav V Duffett Carlson Kellie Sara KS Eccles Laurie R LR Elenski Nedko N Engin Atilla A Erdoğan Nihat N Erir-Pazarcı Sabiha S Fernandes Daniel M DM Ferry Matthew M Freilich Suzanne S Frînculeasa Alin A Galaty Michael L ML Gamarra Beatriz B Gasparyan Boris B Gaydarska Bisserka B Genç Elif E Gültekin Timur T Gündüz Serkan S Hajdu Tamás T Heyd Volker V Hobosyan Suren S Hovhannisyan Nelli N Iliev Iliya I Iliev Lora L Iliev Stanislav S İvgin İlkay İ Janković Ivor I Jovanova Lence L Karkanas Panagiotis P Kavaz-Kındığılı Berna B Kaya Esra Hilal EH Keating Denise D Kennett Douglas J DJ Deniz Kesici Seda S Khudaverdyan Anahit A Kiss Krisztián K Kılıç Sinan S Klostermann Paul P Kostak Boca Negra Valdes Sinem S Kovačević Saša S Krenz-Niedbała Marta M Krznarić Škrivanko Maja M Kurti Rovena R Kuzman Pasko P Lawson Ann Marie AM Lazar Catalin C Leshtakov Krassimir K Levy Thomas E TE Liritzis Ioannis I Lorentz Kirsi O KO Łukasik Sylwia S Mah Matthew M Mallick Swapan S Mandl Kirsten K Martirosyan-Olshansky Kristine K Matthews Roger R Matthews Wendy W McSweeney Kathleen K Melikyan Varduhi V Micco Adam A Michel Megan M Milašinović Lidija L Mittnik Alissa A Monge Janet M JM Nekhrizov Georgi G Nicholls Rebecca R Nikitin Alexey G AG Nikolov Vassil V Novak Mario M Olalde Iñigo I Oppenheimer Jonas J Osterholtz Anna A Özdemir Celal C Özdoğan Kadir Toykan KT Öztürk Nurettin N Papadimitriou Nikos N Papakonstantinou Niki N Papathanasiou Anastasia A Paraman Lujana L Paskary Evgeny G EG Patterson Nick N Petrakiev Ilian I Petrosyan Levon L Petrova Vanya V Philippa-Touchais Anna A Piliposyan Ashot A Pocuca Kuzman Nada N Potrebica Hrvoje H Preda-Bălănică Bianca B Premužić Zrinka Z Price T Douglas TD Qiu Lijun L Radović Siniša S Raeuf Aziz Kamal K Rajić Šikanjić Petra P Rasheed Raheem Kamal K Razumov Sergei S Richardson Amy A Roodenberg Jacob J Ruka Rudenc R Russeva Victoria V Şahin Mustafa M Şarbak Ayşegül A Savaş Emre E Schattke Constanze C Schepartz Lynne L Selçuk Tayfun T Sevim-Erol Ayla A Shamoon-Pour Michel M Shephard Henry M HM Sideris Athanasios A Simalcsik Angela A Simonyan Hakob H Sinika Vitalij V Sirak Kendra K Sirbu Ghenadie G Šlaus Mario M Soficaru Andrei A Söğüt Bilal B Sołtysiak Arkadiusz A Sönmez-Sözer Çilem Ç Stathi Maria M Steskal Martin M Stewardson Kristin K Stocker Sharon S Suata-Alpaslan Fadime F Suvorov Alexander A Szécsényi-Nagy Anna A Szeniczey Tamás T Telnov Nikolai N Temov Strahil S Todorova Nadezhda N Tota Ulsi U Touchais Gilles G Triantaphyllou Sevi S Türker Atila A Ugarković Marina M Valchev Todor T Veljanovska Fanica F Videvski Zlatko Z Virag Cristian C Wagner Anna A Walsh Sam S Włodarczak Piotr P Workman J Noah JN Yardumian Aram A Yarovoy Evgenii E Yavuz Alper Yener AY Yılmaz Hakan H Zalzala Fatma F Zettl Anna A Zhang Zhao Z Çavuşoğlu Rafet R Rohland Nadin N Pinhasi Ron R Reich David D Davtyan Ruben R

Science (New York, N.Y.) 20220825 6609

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatoli ...[more]

PMID: 36007020

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Project description:BackgroundHansen's disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease's complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period.ResultsHere, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae's genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancient M. leprae genomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography of M. leprae and reveal a particularly high M. leprae diversity in European medieval leprosaria.ConclusionsOur findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease's global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy's global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae's worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions.

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Dataset Information

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.

Publications

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.

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