Summary
Tuberculosis (TB), the infectious disease produced by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), remains one of the highest
global disease burdens. However, the current body of knowledge on the MTBC is biased towards certain lineages, particularly lineage 4 that spread from Europe to the Americas during colonial expansion. Recent advances in ancient DNA research have the potential to broaden this picture with the recovery and analysis of whole genomes from strains that infected human populations in the past. Indeed, these approaches have been recently used to identify ancient MTBC animal associated strains infecting humans in South American before the arrival of Europeans. Analysis of these strains estimated that the MTBC most likely emerged during the Neolithic approximately 6000 years ago (much later than previously thought). The PATHOGEN project, will seek to use these approaches to shed new light on the emergence, diversity and spread of MTBC strains in the Southern Cone of the Americas, a neglected region concerning the epidemiological history of TB. By employing ancient DNA methods to examine and screen putatively positive TB infections of humans from archaeological and historic contexts of the current territory of Argentina, I will potentially provide genomic representation of TB histories over a broad time transect from precolonial populations to post-colonial cemeteries. With these data, I will perform phylogenomic and molecular clock analyses to investigate i) changes in strain diversity over time in the region, ii) the historical and socio-economical contexts that favoured the emergence and spread of the detected strains, iii) the emergence of genetic changes with potential clinical relevance identified in MTBC strains over the past centuries. By offering a view of the past, the PATHOGEN project will increase our understanding of the diversity of MTBC across time and contribute a new perspective of the evolutionary and epidemiological histories of TB.
global disease burdens. However, the current body of knowledge on the MTBC is biased towards certain lineages, particularly lineage 4 that spread from Europe to the Americas during colonial expansion. Recent advances in ancient DNA research have the potential to broaden this picture with the recovery and analysis of whole genomes from strains that infected human populations in the past. Indeed, these approaches have been recently used to identify ancient MTBC animal associated strains infecting humans in South American before the arrival of Europeans. Analysis of these strains estimated that the MTBC most likely emerged during the Neolithic approximately 6000 years ago (much later than previously thought). The PATHOGEN project, will seek to use these approaches to shed new light on the emergence, diversity and spread of MTBC strains in the Southern Cone of the Americas, a neglected region concerning the epidemiological history of TB. By employing ancient DNA methods to examine and screen putatively positive TB infections of humans from archaeological and historic contexts of the current territory of Argentina, I will potentially provide genomic representation of TB histories over a broad time transect from precolonial populations to post-colonial cemeteries. With these data, I will perform phylogenomic and molecular clock analyses to investigate i) changes in strain diversity over time in the region, ii) the historical and socio-economical contexts that favoured the emergence and spread of the detected strains, iii) the emergence of genetic changes with potential clinical relevance identified in MTBC strains over the past centuries. By offering a view of the past, the PATHOGEN project will increase our understanding of the diversity of MTBC across time and contribute a new perspective of the evolutionary and epidemiological histories of TB.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101110373 |
| Start date: | 01-05-2023 |
| End date: | 30-04-2025 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 211 754,00 Euro |
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Original description
Tuberculosis (TB), the infectious disease produced by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), remains one of the highestglobal disease burdens. However, the current body of knowledge on the MTBC is biased towards certain lineages, particularly lineage 4 that spread from Europe to the Americas during colonial expansion. Recent advances in ancient DNA research have the potential to broaden this picture with the recovery and analysis of whole genomes from strains that infected human populations in the past. Indeed, these approaches have been recently used to identify ancient MTBC animal associated strains infecting humans in South American before the arrival of Europeans. Analysis of these strains estimated that the MTBC most likely emerged during the Neolithic approximately 6000 years ago (much later than previously thought). The PATHOGEN project, will seek to use these approaches to shed new light on the emergence, diversity and spread of MTBC strains in the Southern Cone of the Americas, a neglected region concerning the epidemiological history of TB. By employing ancient DNA methods to examine and screen putatively positive TB infections of humans from archaeological and historic contexts of the current territory of Argentina, I will potentially provide genomic representation of TB histories over a broad time transect from precolonial populations to post-colonial cemeteries. With these data, I will perform phylogenomic and molecular clock analyses to investigate i) changes in strain diversity over time in the region, ii) the historical and socio-economical contexts that favoured the emergence and spread of the detected strains, iii) the emergence of genetic changes with potential clinical relevance identified in MTBC strains over the past centuries. By offering a view of the past, the PATHOGEN project will increase our understanding of the diversity of MTBC across time and contribute a new perspective of the evolutionary and epidemiological histories of TB.
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01Update Date
31-07-2023
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