ローマ時代から中世にかけて、黒ネズミがどのようにヨーロッパを植民地化したのか、新たな研究成果が発表された New research reveals how the black rat colonised Europe in the Roman and Medieval periods
2022-05-03 マックス・プランク研究所
<関連情報>
- https://www.mpg.de/18595905/0503-evan-spread-of-black-rats-was-linked-to-human-historical-events-150495-x?c=2249
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30009-z
ブラックラット(Rattus rattus)の古ゲノム解析から、人類の経済史に関連したヨーロッパでの複数の導入事例が判明 Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history
He Yu,Alexandra Jamieson,Ardern Hulme-Beaman,Chris J. Conroy,Becky Knight,Camilla Speller,Hiba Al-Jarah,Heidi Eager,Alexandra Trinks,Gamini Adikari,Henriette Baron,Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan,Wijerathne Bohingamuwa,Alison Crowther,Thomas Cucchi,Kinie Esser,Jeffrey Fleisher,Louisa Gidney,Elena Gladilina,Pavel Gol’din,Steven M. Goodman,Sheila Hamilton-Dyer,Richard Helm,Jesse C. Hillman,Nabil Kallala,Hanna Kivikero,Zsófia E. Kovács,Günther Karl Kunst,René Kyselý,Anna Linderholm,Bouthéina Maraoui-Telmini,Nemanja Marković,Arturo Morales-Muñiz,Mariana Nabais,Terry O’Connor,Tarek Oueslati,Eréndira M. Quintana Morales,Kerstin Pasda,Jude Perera,Nimal Perera,Silvia Radbauer,Joan Ramon,Eve Rannamäe,Joan Sanmartí Grego,Edward Treasure,Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas,Inge van der Jagt,Wim Van Neer,Jean-Denis Vigne,Thomas Walker,Stephanie Wynne-Jones,Jørn Zeiler,Keith Dobney,Nicole Boivin,Jeremy B. Searle,Ben Krause-Kyora,Johannes Krause,Greger Larson & David Orton
Nature Communications Published: 03 May 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z
Abstract
The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.
