Genotyping of ancient Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains reveals historic genetic diversity

Müller, R.; Roberts, C.A.; Brown, T.A.

Abstract

The evolutionary history of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) has previously been studied by analysis of sequence diversity in extant strains, but not addressed by direct examination of strain genotypes in archaeological remains. Here, we use ancient DNA sequencing to type 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms and two large sequence polymorphisms in the MTBC strains present in 10 archaeological samples from skeletons from Britain and Europe dating to the second–nineteenth centuries AD. The results enable us to assign the strains to groupings and lineages recognized in the extant MTBC. We show that at least during the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries AD, strains of M. tuberculosis belonging to different genetic groups were present in Britain at the same time, possibly even at a single location, and we present evidence for a mixed infection in at least one individual. Our study shows that ancient DNA typing applied to multiple samples can provide sufficiently detailed information to contribute to both archaeological and evolutionary knowledge of the history of tuberculosis.

Citation

Müller, R., Roberts, C., & Brown, T. (2014). Genotyping of ancient Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains reveals historic genetic diversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1781), Article 20133236. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3236

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Apr 22, 2014
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 27, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 8, 2014
• Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0962-8452
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-2954
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 281
• Issue: 1781
• Article Number: 20133236
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3236
• Keywords: Tuberculosis, Ancient DNA, Strain typing, Single nucleotide polymorphisms, Mixed infection.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1436835