IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-03857-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ancient DNA study reveals HLA susceptibility locus for leprosy in medieval Europeans

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Krause-Kyora

    (Kiel University
    Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Marcel Nutsua

    (Kiel University)

  • Lisa Boehme

    (Kiel University)

  • Federica Pierini

    (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology)

  • Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Sabin-Christin Kornell

    (Kiel University)

  • Dmitriy Drichel

    (University of Cologne)

  • Marion Bonazzi

    (Kiel University)

  • Lena Möbus

    (Kiel University)

  • Peter Tarp

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Julian Susat

    (Kiel University)

  • Esther Bosse

    (Kiel University)

  • Beatrix Willburger

    (DKMS)

  • Alexander H. Schmidt

    (DKMS)

  • Jürgen Sauter

    (DKMS)

  • Andre Franke

    (Kiel University)

  • Michael Wittig

    (Kiel University)

  • Amke Caliebe

    (Kiel University)

  • Michael Nothnagel

    (University of Cologne)

  • Stefan Schreiber

    (Kiel University
    University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein)

  • Jesper L. Boldsen

    (University of Southern Denmark)

  • Tobias L. Lenz

    (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology)

  • Almut Nebel

    (Kiel University)

Abstract

Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), was very common in Europe till the 16th century. Here, we perform an ancient DNA study on medieval skeletons from Denmark that show lesions specific for lepromatous leprosy (LL). First, we test the remains for M. leprae DNA to confirm the infection status of the individuals and to assess the bacterial diversity. We assemble 10 complete M. leprae genomes that all differ from each other. Second, we evaluate whether the human leukocyte antigen allele DRB1*15:01, a strong LL susceptibility factor in modern populations, also predisposed medieval Europeans to the disease. The comparison of genotype data from 69 M. leprae DNA-positive LL cases with those from contemporary and medieval controls reveals a statistically significant association in both instances. In addition, we observe that DRB1*15:01 co-occurs with DQB1*06:02 on a haplotype that is a strong risk factor for inflammatory diseases today.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Krause-Kyora & Marcel Nutsua & Lisa Boehme & Federica Pierini & Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen & Sabin-Christin Kornell & Dmitriy Drichel & Marion Bonazzi & Lena Möbus & Peter Tarp & Julian Susat & Esth, 2018. "Ancient DNA study reveals HLA susceptibility locus for leprosy in medieval Europeans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03857-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03857-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03857-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-03857-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03857-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.