Yersinia pestis strains from Latvia show depletion of the pla virulence gene at the end of the second plague pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Ancient genomic studies have identified Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) as the causative agent of the second plague pandemic (fourteenth-eighteenth century) that started with the Black Death (1,347-1,353). Most of the Y. pestis strains investigated from this pandemic have been isolated from western Europe, and not much is known about the diversity and microevolution of this bacterium in eastern European countries. In this study, we investigated human remains excavated from two cemeteries in Riga (Latvia). Historical evidence suggests that the burials were a consequence of plague outbreaks during the seventeenth century. DNA was extracted from teeth of 16 individuals and subjected to shotgun sequencing. Analysis of the metagenomic data revealed the presence of Y. pestis sequences in four remain

SUBMITTER: Susat J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7471286 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature