Ancient <i>Borrelia</i> genomes document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever
Swali P, Booth T, Tan CCS, McCabe J, Anastasiadou K, Barrington C, Borrini M, Bricking A, Buckberry J, Büster L, Carlin R, Gilardet A, Glocke I, Irish JD, Kelly M, King M, Petchey F, Peto J, Silva M, Speidel L, Tait F, Teoaca A, Valoriani S, Williams M, Madgwick R, Mullan G, Wilson L, Cootes K, Armit I, Gutierrez MG, van Dorp L, Skoglund P.
Abstract
Several bacterial pathogens have transitioned from tick-borne to louse-borne transmission, often involving genome reduction and increasing virulence. However, the timing of such transitions remains unclear. We sequenced four ancient Borrelia recurrentis genomes, the agent of louse-borne relapsing fever, dating from 2,300 to 600 years ago. We estimate the divergence from its closest tick-borne relative to 6,000–4,000 years ago, suggesting an emergence coinciding with human lifestyle changes such as the advent of wool-based textiles. Pan-genome analysis indicates that much of B. recurrentis’ characteristic evolution had occurred by ~2,300 years ago, though further gene turnover, particularly in plasmid partitioning, persisted until ~1,000 years ago. Our findings provide a direct genomic chronology of the evolution of this specialized vector-borne pathogen.
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