First report of Mycobacterium bovis DNA in human remains from the Iron Age

Abstract

Tuberculosis has plagued humankind since prehistoric times, as is evident from characteristic lesions on human skeletons dating back to the Neolithic period. The disease in man is due predominantly to infection with either Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis, both members of the M. tuberculosis (MTB) complex. A number of studies have shown that when conditions permit, surviving mycobacterial DNA may be amplified from bone by PCR. Such ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses are subject to stringent tests of authenticity and, when feasible, are invariably limited by DNA fragmentation. Using PCRs based on single-nucleotide polymorphic loci and regions of difference (RDs) in the MTB complex, a study was made of five Iron Age individuals with spinal lesions recovered from the cemetery of Aymyrlyg, South Siberia. A sensitive screening PCR for MTB complex mycobacteria was positive in four out of the five cases. Genotyping evidence indicated that all four cases were due to infection with M. bovis rather than M. tuberculosis and the data were consistent with the proposed phylogenetic model of the MTB complex. This is believed to be the first report of M. bovis causing Pott's disease in archaeological human remains. The study shows that genotyping of ancestral strains of MTB complex mycobacteria from contexts of known date provides information which allows the phylogeny of the model to be tested. Moreover, it shows that loss of DNA from RD4, which defines classic M. bovis, had already occurred from the genome over 2000 years before the present.

Clinical Presentation of Pott?s disease of the Spine in Adult Sudanese Patients

“…Recent molecular studies on mycobacterial DNA demonstrated TB infection in the old spinal remains of the ancient Egyptian mummies and the Iron Age [2,3].…”

Magnetic resonance imaging findings of patients with suspected tuberculosis from a tertiary care centre in Sri Lanka

“…Back pain is the most frequent presenting symptom of spinal tuberculosis [7]. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are necessary to prevent permanent neurological disability and to minimise spinal deformity [8,9]. Plain radiographic changes associated with spinal TB such as destruction of the inter-vertebral disk space and the adjacent vertebral bodies, collapse of the spinal elements, formation of a 'cold' abscess around the lesion and anterior wedging leading to kyphosis and gibbus formation are seen relatively late [2,10].…”

Molecular Biomarkers for Ancient Tuberculosis

“…However, no M. bovis was found. Indeed, there has only been one reported case of human tuberculosis associated with M. bovis aDNA (Taylor et al, 2007). This was found in a small group of pastoralists in south Siberia, dating from approximately 1761 to 2199 years BP, placing the remains within the Iron Age period.…”