梅毒の起源がアメリカ大陸にあったことを解明 (Syphilis had its roots in the Americas)

2024-12-18 マックス・プランク研究所 (MPG)

Skeletal element (upper hip) that yielded an ancient syphilis-like genome.　© Darío Ramirez

<関連情報>

• https://www.mpg.de/23906941/1216-evan-syphilis-had-its-roots-in-the-americas-150495-x
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08515-5

アメリカ大陸におけるトレポネーマ病の深い歴史が古代ゲノムから明らかになる Ancient genomes reveal a deep history of treponemal disease in the Americas

Rodrigo Barquera,T. Lesley Sitter,Casey L. Kirkpatrick,Darío A. Ramirez,Arthur Kocher,Maria A. Spyrou,Lourdes R. Couoh,Jorge A. Talavera-González,Mario Castro,Tanya von Hunnius,Evelyn K. Guevara,W. Derek Hamilton,Patrick Roberts,Erin Scott,Mariana Fabra,Gabriela V. Da Peña,Aryel Pacheco,Mónica Rodriguez,Eugenio Aspillaga,Anthi Tiliakou,Elizabeth A. Nelson,Karen L. Giffin,Raffaela A. Bianco,Adam B. Rohrlach,… Kirsten I. Bos
Nature  Published:18 December 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08515-5

We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Abstract

Human treponemal infections are caused by a family of closely related Treponema pallidum that give rise to the diseases yaws, bejel, pinta and, most famously, syphilis¹. Debates on both a common origin for these pathogens and the history of syphilis itself has weighed evidence for the “Columbian hypothesis”², which argues for an American origin, against that for the “pre-Columbian hypothesis”³, which argues for presence of the disease in Eurasia in the Medieval period and possibly earlier. While molecular data has provided a genetic basis for distinction of the typed subspecies⁴, deep evolution of the complex has remained unresolved due to limitations in the conclusions that can be drawn from the sparse paleogenomic data currently available. Here we explore this evolutionary history through analyses of five pre- and peri-contact ancient treponemal genomes from the Americas that represent ancient relatives of the T. pallidum pallidum (syphilis), T. pallidum pertenue (yaws) and T. pallidum endemicum (bejel) lineages. Our data indicate unexplored diversity and an emergence of T. pallidum that post-dates human occupation in the Americas. Together these results support an American origin for all T. pallidum characterized at the genomic level, both modern and ancient.