A draft genome of Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death

Kirsten I. Bos, Verena J. Schuenemann, G. Brian Golding, Hernán A. Burbano, Nicholas Waglechner, Brian K. Coombes, Joseph B. McPhee, Sharon N. DeWitte, Matthias Meyer, Sarah Schmedes, James Wood, David J. D. Earn, D. Ann Herring, Peter Bauer, Hendrik N. Poinar () and Johannes Krause ()
Additional contact information
Kirsten I. Bos: McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Verena J. Schuenemann: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Rümelinstr. 23, University of Tübingen
G. Brian Golding: McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Hernán A. Burbano: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Nicholas Waglechner: Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Brian K. Coombes: Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Joseph B. McPhee: Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Sharon N. DeWitte: University of South Carolina
Matthias Meyer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Sarah Schmedes: Institute of Applied Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard
James Wood: Pennsylvania State University, University Park
David J. D. Earn: Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
D. Ann Herring: McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Peter Bauer: Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen
Hendrik N. Poinar: McMaster Ancient DNA Centre, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West
Johannes Krause: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Rümelinstr. 23, University of Tübingen

Nature, 2011, vol. 478, issue 7370, 506-510

Abstract: Reconstruction of Black Death genome The latest DNA recovery and sequencing technologies have been used to reconstruct the genome of the Yersinia pestis bacterium responsible for the Black Death pandemic of bubonic plague that spread across Europe in the fourteenth century. The genome was pieced together from total DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of four individuals excavated from a large cemetery on the site of the Royal Mint in East Smithfield in London, where more than 2,000 plague victims were buried in 1348 and 1349. The draft genome sequence does not differ substantially from modern Y. pestis strains, providing no answer to the question of why the Black Death was more deadly than modern bubonic plague outbreaks.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10549

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