biostudies-literatureUnknown39(4)Di DSwiss National Science FoundationIn a recent article, Immel et al. (Immel A, Key FM, Szolek A, Barquera R, Robinson MK, Harrison GF, Palmer WH, Spyrou MA, Susat J, Krause-Kyora B, et al. 2021. Analysis of genomic DNA from medieval plague victims suggests long-term effect of Yersinia pestis on human immunity genes. Mol Biol Evol. 38:4059-4076) extracted DNA from 36 individuals dead from plague in Ellwangen, Southern Germany, during the 16th century. By comparing their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes with those of 50 present-day Ellwangen inhabitants, the authors reported a significant decrease of HLA-B*51:01 and HLA-C*06:02 and a significant increase of HLA-DRB1*13:01/13:02 frequencies from ancient to modern populations. After comparing these frequencies with a larger sample of 8,862 modern Germans and performing sMolecular biology and evolutionmsac073https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9021733biostudies-literatureChallenging Ancient DNA Results About Putative HLA Protection or Susceptibility to Yersinia pestis.PMC9021733Nunes JMCurrat MDi DSimon Thomas JSanchez-Mazas AfalseChallenging Ancient DNA Results About Putative HLA Protection or Susceptibility to Yersinia pestis.In a recent article, Immel et al. (Immel A, Key FM, Szolek A, Barquera R, Robinson MK, Harrison GF, Palmer WH, Spyrou MA, Susat J, Krause-Kyora B, et al. 2021. Analysis of genomic DNA from medieval plague victims suggests long-term effect of Yersinia pestis on human immunity genes. Mol Biol Evol. 38:4059-4076) extracted DNA from 36 individuals dead from plague in Ellwangen, Southern Germany, during the 16th century. By comparing their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes with those of 50 present-day Ellwangen inhabitants, the authors reported a significant decrease of HLA-B*51:01 and HLA-C*06:02 and a significant increase of HLA-DRB1*13:01/13:02 frequencies from ancient to modern populations. After comparing these frequencies with a larger sample of 8,862 modern Germans and performing s2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Apr2025-04-19T21:47:27.273Z2025-04-19T21:47:27.273ZS-EPMC90217333538385410.1093/molbev/msac073