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The Black Death "haunted" human evolution and we are still under its shadow

2022-10-20 19:04:21Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The Black Death "haunted" human evolution and we are still under its
The Black Death

An analysis of DNA taken from medieval victims and survivors of the "Black Death" shows that the plague that devastated Europe in the 14th century continues to affect our biology to this day. Not only because the pathogen responsible is still active, but because the deadly and widespread pandemic triggered adaptations in our immune systems that have continued to evolve for hundreds of years.

Although the genes involved appear to have conferred increased resistance to the plague, scientists have found that the same genes today may be linked to increased susceptibility to autoimmune conditions, such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

This finding shows that pandemics can have unexpected, and sometimes harmful, long-term effects that are passed down through generations.

The Black Death is considered one of the most devastating events in human history, claiming tens to hundreds of millions of lives in Europe, Asia and Africa. It was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and was transmitted to humans via fleas to cause a disease that could kill within a day. Because the Black Death was so widespread and the dead were buried in mass graves, there are many bones for today's researchers to study.

According to the study published in Science Alert, scientists focused on a 100-year period before, during and after the Black Death. They took over 500 samples from individuals who died in London and Denmark, who represented three groups; those who died before the plague (taken from a mass grave in London), those who died during and those who survived and died long after.

The researchers recreated cultures of human cells representing different genetic profiles and infected them with Yersinia pestis. Their results showed that genes identified earlier in their study appeared again.

In particular, individuals with two identical copies of a gene called ERAP2 were about 40 to 50% more likely to survive the plague than those with opposite copies, who appeared to be more affected by the disease.

This, the researchers say, provides evidence for a possible link between autoimmune risk and adaptation to an infectious disease that spread centuries ago.

"Understanding the dynamics that have shaped the human immune system is key to understanding how past pandemics, such as the plague, contribute to our susceptibility to disease in modern times," said Handrik Poinar, researcher and anthropologist.


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