Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2020-5
Recognising the broad array of approaches available for the diagnosis of ancient tuberculosis: Comment on ‘Infectious diseases and Neolithic transformations’ (Fuchs et al. 2019 The Holocene 29: 1545–1557)
The characterisation of ancient tuberculosis is not totally dependent on the recovery of intact genomes. Judicious combinations of ancient DNA fragments and specific lipid biomarkers provide unambiguous diagnosis and these protocols are capable of refinement and extension. Currently, there is no direct evidence for exclusive co-evolution of humans and tuberculosis. A developing body of data suggests that the initial evolution of tuberculosis may readily have taken place in a range of Pleistocene megafauna.
BosKIHarkinsKMHerbigA, et al. (2014) Pre-Columbian Mycobacterium genomes reveal seals as a source of New World human tuberculosis. Nature514: 494–497.
2.
BosKIKühnertDHerbigA, et al. (2019) Paleomicrobiology: Diagnosis and evolution of ancient pathogens. Annual Review of Microbiology73: 639–666.
3.
ComasICoscollaMLuoT, et al. (2013) Out-of-Africa migration and Neolithic co-expansion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with modern humans. Nature Genetics45: 1176–1182.
4.
DonoghueHDTaylorGMStewartGR, et al. (2017) Positive diagnosis of ancient leprosy and tuberculosis using ancient DNA and lipid biomarkers. Diversity9: 46.
5.
FuchsKRinneCDrummerC, et al. (2019) Infectious diseases and Neolithic transformations: Evaluating biological and archaeological proxies in the German loess zone between 5,500 and 2,500 BCE. The Holocene29: 1545–1557.
6.
HendyJCollinsMTeohKY, et al. (2016) The challenge of identifying tuberculosis proteins in archaeological tissues. Journal of Archaeological Science66: 146–153.
7.
HershkovitzIDonoghueHDMinnikinDE, et al. (2008) Detection and molecular characterization of 9,000-year-old Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a Neolithic settlement in the Eastern Mediterranean. PLoS ONE3: e3426.
8.
JankuteMNatarajVLeeOY-C, et al. (2017) The role of hydrophobicity in tuberculosis evolution and pathogenicity. Scientific Reports7: 1315.
9.
KayGLSergeantMJZhouZ, et al. (2015) Eighteenth-century genomes show that mixed infections were common at time of peak tuberculosis in Europe. Nature Communications6: 6717.
10.
LeeOY-CWuHHTBesraGS, et al. (2015) Lipid biomarkers provide evolutionary signposts for the oldest known cases of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis95(Suppl. 1): S127–S132.
11.
LeeOY-CWuHHTDonoghueHD, et al. (2012) Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex lipid virulence factors preserved in the 17,000-year-old skeleton of an extinct bison, Bison antiquus. PLoS ONE7: e41923.
12.
MassonMBereczkiZMolnárE, et al. (2015) 7,000 year-old tuberculosis cases from Hungary: Osteological and biomolecular evidence. Tuberculosis95(Suppl. 1): S13–S17.
13.
MassonMMolnárEDonoghueHD, et al. (2013) Osteological and biomolecular evidence of a 7,000-year-old case of hypertrophic pulmonary osteopathy secondary to tuberculosis from Neolithic Hungary. PLoS ONE8: e78252.
MinnikinDELeeOY-CWuHHT, et al. (2015) Ancient mycobacterial lipids: Key reference biomarkers in charting the evolution of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis95(Suppl. 1): S133–S139.
16.
OrgeurMBroschR (2018) Evolution of virulence in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Current Opinion in Microbiology41: 68–75.
17.
RothschildBMMartinLDLevG, et al. (2001) Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex DNA from an extinct bison dated 17,000 years before the present. Clinical Infectious Diseases33: 305–311.
