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- All Subjects: Paleopathology
- Creators: Stone, Anne C
Description
Studies of ancient pathogens are moving beyond simple confirmatory analysis of diseased bone; bioarchaeologists and ancient geneticists are posing nuanced questions and utilizing novel methods capable of confronting the debates surrounding pathogen origins and evolution, and the relationships between humans and disease in the past. This dissertation examines two ancient human diseases through molecular and bioarchaeological lines of evidence, relying on techniques in paleogenetics and phylogenetics to detect, isolate, sequence and analyze ancient and modern pathogen DNA within an evolutionary framework. Specifically this research addresses outstanding issues regarding a) the evolution, origin and phylogenetic placement of the pathogen causing skeletal tuberculosis in New World prior to European contact, and b) the phylogeny and origins of the parasite causing the human leishmaniasis disease complex. An additional chapter presents a review of the major technological and theoretical advances in ancient pathogen genomics to frame the contributions of this work within a rapidly developing field. This overview emphasizes that understanding the evolution of human disease is critical to contextualizing relationships between humans and pathogens, and the epidemiological shifts observed both in the past and in the present era of (re)emerging infectious diseases. These questions continue to be at the forefront of not only pathogen research, but also
bioarchaeological and paleopathological scholarship.
bioarchaeological and paleopathological scholarship.
ContributorsHarkins, Kelly M (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Stone, Anne C (Thesis advisor) / Knudson, Kelly (Committee member) / Kumar, Sudhir (Committee member) / Krause, Johannes (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Although the Caribbean has been continuously inhabited for the last 7,000 years, European contact in the last 500 years dramatically reshaped the cultural and genetic makeup of island populations. Several recent studies have explored the genetic diversity of Caribbean Latinos and have characterized Native American variation present within their genomes. However, the difficulty of obtaining ancient DNA from pre-contact populations and the underrepresentation of non-Latino Caribbean islanders in current research have prevented a complete understanding of genetic variation over time and space in the Caribbean basin. This dissertation uses two approaches to characterize the role of migration and admixture in the demographic history of Caribbean islanders. First, autosomal variants were genotyped in a sample of 55 Afro-Caribbeans from five islands in the Lesser Antilles: Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad, and St. Vincent. These data were used to characterize genetic structure, ancestry and signatures of selection in these populations. The results demonstrate a complex pattern of admixture since European contact, including a strong signature of sex-biased mating and inputs from at least five continental populations to the autosomal ancestry of Afro-Caribbean peoples. Second, ancient mitochondrial and nuclear DNA were obtained from 60 skeletal remains, dated between A.D. 500–1300, from three archaeological sites in Puerto Rico: Paso del Indio, Punta Candelero and Tibes. The ancient data were used to reassesses existing models for the peopling of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean and to examine the extent of genetic continuity between ancient and modern populations. Project findings support a largely South American origin for Ceramic Age Caribbean populations and identify some genetic continuity between pre and post contact islanders. The above study was aided by development and testing of extraction methods optimized for recovery of ancient DNA from tropical contexts. Overall, project findings characterize how ancient indigenous groups, European colonial regimes, the African Slave Trade and modern labor movements have shaped the genomic diversity of Caribbean islanders. In addition to its anthropological and historical importance, such knowledge is also essential for informing the identification of medically relevant genetic variation in these populations.
ContributorsNieves Colón, Maria (Author) / Stone, Anne C (Thesis advisor) / Pestle, William J. (Committee member) / Benn-Torres, Jada (Committee member) / Stojanowski, Christopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly disease that infects millions of people annually. TB has a global distribution and remains a significant cause of mortality, despite decades of eradication campaigns and antibiotic development. TB is caused by genetically similar pathogens in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), and human infections are generally caused by human-associated strains, although humans can contract animal-associated strains. Skeletal evidence of TB on archaeological human skeletal remains and evolutionary dating of MTBC genomes reveal that TB has afflicted humans for approximately 6,000 years. Previous research has shown that MTBC pathogens were introduced into the Americas through a zoonotic transmission from seals and sea lions along the coasts of South America by at least 1000 CE. Characterizing the introduction and enigmatic intercontinental spread of a successful zoonotic transmission over hundreds of years provides valuable insight into the potential of zoonotic MTBC infections. Through the recovery and phylogenomic analysis of the first ancient MTBC genomes (n = 2) from pre-contact North America, I establish that there were multiple contemporaneous MTBC lineages circulating in human populations in the Americas. The high genomic diversity and deep divergence of strains from Mesoamerica suggest that TB was endemic in the region. To reveal the impact of TB within a Mesoamerican city, I examined human skeletons (n = 137) for evidence of disease from sacrificial and natural mortality burial contexts within Tlatelolco, a ceremonial precinct and interregional marketplace at the heart of the Aztec Empire (1300-1521 CE). I found that TB disproportionately affected sacrificial victims, who also exhibited evidence of food insecurity and resource inequality. These results mirror the socioeconomic patterns of TB distribution today. Further, I sampled broadly from sacrificial victims with skeletal evidence of TB not only for biomolecular confirmation of MTBC but also to uncover associations between skeletal TB manifestation and ability to recover ancient MTBC DNA. I identify 10 additional cases of MTBC at Tlatelolco and link ancient MTBC DNA recovery to TB skeletal lesion characteristics and age-at-death of the infected individual. Overall, this body of work combines paleogenomic and paleopathological data to highlight the impact of ancient TB zoonoses.
ContributorsBlevins, Kelly Elaine (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E (Thesis advisor) / Stone, Anne C (Thesis advisor) / Ávila-Arcos, María C (Committee member) / Smith, Michael E (Committee member) / Wilson, Melissa A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021