Yersinia pestis DNA from Skeletal Remains from the 6th Century AD Reveals Insights into Justinianic Plague

Abstract

Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of the disease plague, has been implicated in three historical pandemics. These include the third pandemic of the 19th and 20th centuries, during which plague was spread around the world, and the second pandemic of the 14th–17th centuries, which included the infamous epidemic known as the Black Death. Previous studies have confirmed that Y. pestis caused these two more recent pandemics. However, a highly spirited debate still continues as to whether Y. pestis caused the so-called Justinianic Plague of the 6th–8th centuries AD. By analyzing ancient DNA in two independent ancient DNA laboratories, we confirmed unambiguously the presence of Y. pestis DNA in human skeletal remains from an Early Medieval cemetery. In addition, we narrowed the phylogenetic position of the responsible strain down to major branch 0 on the Y. pestis phylogeny, specifically between nodes N03 and N05. Our findings confirm that Y. pestis was responsible for the Justinianic Plague, which should end the controversy regarding the etiology of this pandemic. The first genotype of a Y. pestis strain that caused the Late Antique plague provides important information about the history of the plague bacillus and suggests that the first pandemic also originated in Asia, similar to the other two plague pandemics.

Ecological Opportunity, Evolution, and the Emergence of Flea-Borne Plague

“…For example, the evolutionary record of Y. pestis has been documented in population genetic studies of a comprehensive sample of 148 strains collected from around the world. These studies have established the time and place of the emergence of Y. pestis in central Asia, a phylogenetic tree, and phylogeographic reconstruction of its spread throughout the world after it emerged (3)(4)(5)(6)(20)(21)(22)(23)). An evolutionary history at this level of detail is unusual for a prokaryote but possible for Y. pestis because it is a young, genetically monomorphic clonal species with a still-extant recent common ancestor (20).…”

“…Plague victims die as a result of severe bacteremia, and Y. pestis DNA has been PCR amplified on several occasions from highly vascularized and environmentally protected skeletal tissue samples, such as dental pulp and bone collected from ancient gravesites. Detailed genomic characterization of this ancient DNA, including whole-genome sequence reconstructions, combined with archaeological data and radiocarbon dating, have added Y. pestis strains from the 6th century Plague of Justinian and the 14th century Black Death pandemics to the phylogenetic tree (22)(23)(24)(25). This genomic fossil record has recently been extended even further to include ancestral Y. pestis strains circulating during the Bronze Age, 4,000 to 5,000 years ago (6).…”

The Interaction of Climate Change and Agency in the Collapse of Civilizations ca. 2300–2000 BC

“…Both the Antonine and Justinianic plagues resulted in death tolls for the Roman world similar in proportion to those from the Black Death for all of Europe (Paine 2000:188). DNA analysis has shown the Justinianic plague to be identical to the bubonic plague that ravaged Europe in AD 1347-1351 (Harbeck et al 2013).…”

Spatial analysis and identification of high risk plague regions in Pakistan based on associated rodent species distribution

“…This disease has been associated with human pandemics since the 6th century and has caused tens of millions of deaths worldwide [1]. The plague epidemic during the years 1347-1351 is commonly referred to as the "Black Death" and is thought to have originated in the arid regions of central Asia, transmitted via black rats [2].…”