{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"submitter":["Swali P"],"funding":["Cancer Research UK","European Research Council","Medical Research Council","Wellcome Trust"],"pagination":["eadr2147"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7617810"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["388(6749)"],"pubmed_abstract":["Several bacterial pathogens have transitioned from tick-borne to louse-borne transmission, which often involves genome reduction and increasing virulence. However, the timing of such transitions remains unclear. We sequenced four ancient <i>Borrelia recurrentis</i> genomes, the agent of louse-borne relapsing fever, dating from 2300 to 600 years ago. We estimated the divergence from its closest tick-borne relative to 6000 to 4000 years ago, which suggests an emergence coinciding with human lifestyle changes such as the advent of wool-based textiles. Pan-genome analysis indicated that much of the evolution characteristic of <i>B. recurrentis</i> had occurred by ~2300 years ago, though further gene turnover, particularly in plasmid partitioning, persisted until ~1000 years ago. Our findings provide a direct genomic chronology of the evolution of this specialized vector-borne pathogen."],"journal":["Science (New York, N.Y.)"],"pubmed_title":["Ancient &lt;i&gt;Borrelia&lt;/i&gt; genomes document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever."],"pmcid":["PMC7617810"],"funding_grant_id":["852558","CC2109","217223","FC001595","217223/Z/19/Z","220457"],"pubmed_authors":["Williams M","Madgwick R","Tait F","Mullan G","Teoaca A","Irish JD","Valoriani S","Wilson L","Speidel L","King M","Borrini M","Buckberry J","Anastasiadou K","Carlin R","Petchey F","Bricking A","Booth T","Gilardet A","Kelly M","van Dorp L","Skoglund P","Peto J","Gutierrez MG","Cootes K","Swali P","Silva M","Barrington C","Tan CCS","Buster L","McCabe J","Armit I","Glocke I"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Ancient &lt;i&gt;Borrelia&lt;/i&gt; genomes document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever.","description":"Several bacterial pathogens have transitioned from tick-borne to louse-borne transmission, which often involves genome reduction and increasing virulence. However, the timing of such transitions remains unclear. We sequenced four ancient <i>Borrelia recurrentis</i> genomes, the agent of louse-borne relapsing fever, dating from 2300 to 600 years ago. We estimated the divergence from its closest tick-borne relative to 6000 to 4000 years ago, which suggests an emergence coinciding with human lifestyle changes such as the advent of wool-based textiles. Pan-genome analysis indicated that much of the evolution characteristic of <i>B. recurrentis</i> had occurred by ~2300 years ago, though further gene turnover, particularly in plasmid partitioning, persisted until ~1000 years ago. Our findings provide a direct genomic chronology of the evolution of this specialized vector-borne pathogen.","dates":{"release":"2025-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2025 May","modification":"2026-06-01T12:02:41.322Z","creation":"2026-04-08T12:00:05.702Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC7617810","cross_references":{"pubmed":["40403067"],"doi":["10.1126/science.adr2147"]}}