Eighteenth-century genomes show that mixed infections were common at time of peak tuberculosis in Europe

Gemma L. Kay, Martin J. Sergeant, Zhemin Zhou, Jacqueline Z.-M. Chan, Andrew Millard, Joshua Quick, Ildikó Szikossy, Ildikó Pap, Mark Spigelman, Nicholas J. Loman, Mark Achtman, Helen D. Donoghue and Mark J. Pallen ()
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Gemma L. Kay: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Martin J. Sergeant: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Zhemin Zhou: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Jacqueline Z.-M. Chan: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Andrew Millard: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Joshua Quick: Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham
Ildikó Szikossy: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Ludovika tér 2–6
Ildikó Pap: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Ludovika tér 2–6
Mark Spigelman: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University
Nicholas J. Loman: Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham
Mark Achtman: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road
Helen D. Donoghue: Centre for Clinical Microbiology, University College London
Mark J. Pallen: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) was once a major killer in Europe, but it is unclear how the strains and patterns of infection at ‘peak TB’ relate to what we see today. Here we describe 14 genome sequences of M. tuberculosis, representing 12 distinct genotypes, obtained from human remains from eighteenth-century Hungary using metagenomics. All our historic genotypes belong to M. tuberculosis Lineage 4. Bayesian phylogenetic dating, based on samples with well-documented dates, places the most recent common ancestor of this lineage in the late Roman period. We find that most bodies yielded more than one M. tuberculosis genotype and we document an intimate epidemiological link between infections in two long-dead individuals. Our results suggest that metagenomic approaches usefully inform detection and characterization of historical and contemporary infections.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7717

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