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Michel M, Skourtanioti E, Pierini F, Guevara EK, Mötsch A, Kocher A, Barquera R, Bianco RA, Carlhoff S, Coppola Bove L, Freilich S, Giffin K, Hermes T, Hiß A, Knolle F, Nelson EA, Neumann GU, Papac L, Penske S, Rohrlach AB, Salem N, Semerau L, Villalba-Mouco V, Abadie I, Aldenderfer M, Beckett JF, Brown M, Campus FGR, Chenghwa T, Cruz Berrocal M, Damašek L, Duffett Carlson KS, Durand R, Ernée M, Fântăneanu C, Frenzel H, García Atiénzar G, Guillén S, Hsieh E, Karwowski M, Kelvin D, Kelvin N, Khokhlov A, Kinaston RL, Korolev A, Krettek KL, Küßner M, Lai L, Look C, Majander K, Mandl K, Mazzarello V, McCormick M, de Miguel Ibáñez P, Murphy R, Németh RE, Nordqvist K, Novotny F, Obenaus M, Olmo-Enciso L, Onkamo P, Orschiedt J, Patrushev V, Peltola S, Romero A, Rubino S, Sajantila A, Salazar-García DC, Serrano E, Shaydullaev S, Sias E, Šlaus M, Stančo L, Swanston T, Teschler-Nicola M, Valentin F, Van de Vijver K, Varney TL, Vigil-Escalera Guirado A, Waters CK, Weiss-Krejci E, Winter E, Lamnidis TC, Prüfer K, Nägele K, Spyrou M, Schiffels S, Stockhammer PW, Haak W, Posth C, Warinner C, Bos KI, Herbig A, Krause J. Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria. Nature 2024; 631:125-133. [PMID: 38867050 PMCID: PMC11222158 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07546-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species1. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe1,2. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae from 16 countries spanning around 5,500 years of human history. We identified P. vivax and P. falciparum across geographically disparate regions of Eurasia from as early as the fourth and first millennia BCE, respectively; for P. vivax, this evidence pre-dates textual references by several millennia3. Genomic analysis supports distinct disease histories for P. falciparum and P. vivax in the Americas: similarities between now-eliminated European and peri-contact South American strains indicate that European colonizers were the source of American P. vivax, whereas the trans-Atlantic slave trade probably introduced P. falciparum into the Americas. Our data underscore the role of cross-cultural contacts in the dissemination of malaria, laying the biomolecular foundation for future palaeo-epidemiological research into the impact of Plasmodium parasites on human history. Finally, our unexpected discovery of P. falciparum in the high-altitude Himalayas provides a rare case study in which individual mobility can be inferred from infection status, adding to our knowledge of cross-cultural connectivity in the region nearly three millennia ago.
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MESH Headings
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Altitude
- Americas/epidemiology
- Asia/epidemiology
- Biological Evolution
- Disease Resistance/genetics
- DNA, Ancient/analysis
- Europe/epidemiology
- Genome, Mitochondrial/genetics
- Genome, Protozoan/genetics
- History, Ancient
- Malaria/parasitology
- Malaria/history
- Malaria/transmission
- Malaria/epidemiology
- Malaria, Falciparum/epidemiology
- Malaria, Falciparum/history
- Malaria, Falciparum/parasitology
- Malaria, Falciparum/transmission
- Malaria, Vivax/epidemiology
- Malaria, Vivax/history
- Malaria, Vivax/parasitology
- Malaria, Vivax/transmission
- Plasmodium/genetics
- Plasmodium/classification
- Plasmodium falciparum/genetics
- Plasmodium falciparum/isolation & purification
- Plasmodium malariae/genetics
- Plasmodium malariae/isolation & purification
- Plasmodium vivax/genetics
- Plasmodium vivax/isolation & purification
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Michel
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, .
| | - Eirini Skourtanioti
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
| | - Federica Pierini
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Evelyn K Guevara
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Angela Mötsch
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
| | - Arthur Kocher
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Transmission, Infection, Diversification and Evolution Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Rodrigo Barquera
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Raffaela A Bianco
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
| | - Selina Carlhoff
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Lorenza Coppola Bove
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Suzanne Freilich
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Karen Giffin
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Taylor Hermes
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Alina Hiß
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Florian Knolle
- Department of Medical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Applied Sciences Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Elizabeth A Nelson
- Microbial Palaeogenomics Unit, Department of Genomes and Genetics, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Gunnar U Neumann
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
| | - Luka Papac
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sandra Penske
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Adam B Rohrlach
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- Adelaide Data Science Centre, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Nada Salem
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
| | - Lena Semerau
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vanessa Villalba-Mouco
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón, IUCA-Aragosaurus, Universitity of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Isabelle Abadie
- Inrap - Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives, Paris, France
- Centre Michel de Boüard, Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques anciennes et médiévales, Université de Caen Normandie, Caen, France
| | - Mark Aldenderfer
- Department of Anthropology and Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USA
| | | | - Matthew Brown
- Sociology and Anthropology Department, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY, USA
| | - Franco G R Campus
- Department of History, Human Sciences, and Education, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Tsang Chenghwa
- Institute of Anthropology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - María Cruz Berrocal
- Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Ladislav Damašek
- Institute of Classical Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Raphaël Durand
- Service d'archéologie préventive Bourges plus, Bourges, France
- UMR 5199 PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac Cedex, France
| | - Michal Ernée
- Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Hannah Frenzel
- Anatomy Institute, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gabriel García Atiénzar
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología y Patrimonio Histórico, Universidad de Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), Spain
| | | | - Ellen Hsieh
- Institute of Anthropology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Maciej Karwowski
- Institut für Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - David Kelvin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Nikki Kelvin
- Division of Ancient Pathogens, BioForge Canada Limited, Halifax, Nove Scotia, Canada
| | - Alexander Khokhlov
- Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education, Samara, Russia
| | - Rebecca L Kinaston
- BioArch South, Waitati, New Zealand
- Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Studies, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia
| | - Arkadii Korolev
- Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education, Samara, Russia
| | - Kim-Louise Krettek
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Mario Küßner
- Thuringian State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Weimar, Germany
| | - Luca Lai
- Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA
| | - Cory Look
- Sociology and Anthropology Department, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY, USA
| | - Kerttu Majander
- Department of Environmental Science, Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Kirsten Mandl
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Michael McCormick
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, Department of History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Patxuka de Miguel Ibáñez
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología y Patrimonio Histórico, Universidad de Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), Spain
- Servicio de Obstetricia, Hospital Virgen de los Lirios-Fisabio, Alcoi, Spain
- Sección de Antropología, Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi, Donostia - San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Reg Murphy
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | | | - Kerkko Nordqvist
- Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Friederike Novotny
- Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Obenaus
- Silva Nortica Archäologische Dienstleistungen, Thunau am Kamp, Austria
| | - Lauro Olmo-Enciso
- Department of History, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
| | - Päivi Onkamo
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Jörg Orschiedt
- Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle, Germany
- Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Valerii Patrushev
- Centre of Archaeological and Ethnographical Investigation, Mari State University, Yoshkar-Ola, Russia
| | - Sanni Peltola
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Alejandro Romero
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología y Patrimonio Histórico, Universidad de Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), Spain
- Departamento de Biotecnología, Universidad de Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
| | - Salvatore Rubino
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Antti Sajantila
- Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Forensic Medicine Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Domingo C Salazar-García
- Departament de Prehistòria, Arqueologia i Història Antiga, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Elena Serrano
- Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
- TAR Arqueología, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Emanuela Sias
- Centro Studi sulla Civiltà del Mare, Stintino, Italy
| | - Mario Šlaus
- Anthropological Center, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ladislav Stančo
- Institute of Classical Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Treena Swanston
- Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Maria Teschler-Nicola
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Katrien Van de Vijver
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
- Center for Archaeological Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Dienst Archeologie - Stad Mechelen, Mechelen, Belgium
| | - Tamara L Varney
- Department of Anthropology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Christopher K Waters
- Heritage Department, National Parks of Antigua and Barbuda, St. Paul's Parish, Antigua and Barbuda
| | - Estella Weiss-Krejci
- Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Eduard Winter
- Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Thiseas C Lamnidis
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kay Prüfer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kathrin Nägele
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Maria Spyrou
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Stephan Schiffels
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Philipp W Stockhammer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Haak
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cosimo Posth
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christina Warinner
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kirsten I Bos
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Alexander Herbig
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, .
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