The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sikora, Martin; Canteri, Elisabetta; Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio; Oskolkov, Nikolay; Agren, Rasmus; Hansson, Lena; Irving-Pease, Evan K.; Muehlemann, Barbara; Nielsen, Sofie Holtsmark; Scorrano, Gabriele; Allentoft, Morten E.; Seersholm, Frederik Valeur; Schroeder, Hannes; Gaunitz, Charleen; Stenderup, Jesper; Vinner, Lasse; Jones, Terry C.; Nystedt, Bjoern; Sjoegren, Karl-Goeran; Parkhill, Julian; Fugger, Lars; Racimo, Fernando; Kristiansen, Kristian; Iversen, Astrid K. N.; Willerslev, Eske
• 署名单位: University of Copenhagen; University of Copenhagen; University of Copenhagen; Lund University; Chalmers University of Technology; Free University of Berlin; Humboldt University of Berlin; Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin; Free University of Berlin; Humboldt University of Berlin; Humboldt University of Berlin; Free University of Berlin; Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin; Berlin Institute of Health; German Center for Infection Research; Statens Serum Institut; University of Rome Tor Vergata; Curtin University; University of Cambridge; Uppsala University; University of Gothenburg; University of Cambridge; University of Oxford; University of Oxford; University of Oxford; University of Cambridge; University of Bremen; University of Bremen
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-3293
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09192-8
• 发表日期: 2025-07-24
• 关键词: population genomics; yersinia-pestis; bronze-age; transmission; medieval; reveals; disease

摘要

Infectious diseases have had devastating effects on human populations throughout history, but important questions about their origins and past dynamics remain1. To create an archaeogenetic-based spatiotemporal map of human pathogens, we screened shotgun-sequencing data from 1,313 ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history. We demonstrate the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA, identifying 5,486 individual hits against 492 species from 136 genera. Among those hits, 3,384 involve known human pathogens2, many of which had not previously been identified in ancient human remains. Grouping the ancient microbial species according to their likely reservoir and type of transmission, we find that most groups are identified throughout the entire sampling period. Zoonotic pathogens are only detected from around 6,500 years ago, peaking roughly 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the widespread domestication of livestock3. Our findings provide direct evidence that this lifestyle change resulted in an increased infectious disease burden. They also indicate that the spread of these pathogens increased substantially during subsequent millennia, coinciding with the pastoralist migrations from the Eurasian Steppe4,5.