Black Death survivors gave their descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost HEAD TOPICS

Black Death survivors gave their descendants a genetic advantage — but with a cost

10/23/2022 6:45:00 AM

Nearly half of Europeans died from the plague Now a new study shows a protective gene mutation that survivors passed on to help with future outbreaks might cause other problems

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NPR

Up to 50% of Europeans died from the plague. Now a new study shows that those who lived had a protective gene mutation they passed on to bolster immunity — but it comes at a cost. Nearly half of Europeans died from the plague Now a new study shows a protective gene mutation that survivors passed on to help with future outbreaks might cause other problems Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA)"So the king [Edward III], at the time, bought this piece of land and started digging it," says geneticist Luis Barreiro at the University of Chicago. This cemetery, called East Smithfield, became a mass grave, where more than 700 people were buried together."There's basically layers and layers of bodies one on top of each other Scientists say they've solved a 700-year-old mystery: Where and when Black Death beganNature. Survivors passed those mutations onto their descendants, and many Europeans still carry those mutations today.The study demonstrates how past pandemics could prepare the human immune system to survive future pandemics. Read more:
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Read more >> Maybe they didn't wash their hands 6 times a day, stay 6ft away from others, wear 2 masks and get multiple shots? New Orleans pastor admits to defrauding church, congregations and school of nearly $900KThe Rev. Charles Southall III admitted to soliciting and stealing tithes and donations from churchgoers, and he faces up to 10 years in prison. This dude is only the exception because he actually faced some consequence. How come everybodyy is silent on this? VIDEO: Deshaun Watson caught speeding at nearly 100 mph, months after Browns tradeDeshaun Watson received a speeding ticket from the Ohio State Highway Patrol months after being traded to the Cleveland Browns. New York woman arrested after nearly 300 neglected animals 'covered in vermin' found in her homeThe home was deemed 'a hoarding situation' with 118 rabbits, 150 birds, 15 cats, seven tortoises, three snakes and several mice, according to the district attorney. Rabbits reproduce quick... hornier than Hunter Biden.. Can’t be worse than neglecting all the homeless and mentally ill…. Think about it… same mess different species, and different human compassion. Think about it. Theyy don’t want youu to know thiss Nearly 50 migrants arrested during house search in Casa GrandeHomeland Security Investigations officers and Border Patrol agents conducted a house search when they found the large group of migrants. Bernstein says Musk was 'curt' and 'almost dismissive' on earnings call, sees stock dropping nearly 30%Toni Sacconaghi, Bernstein senior research analyst who has a underperform rating on the EV player, said he's not pleased with Musk's performance on the call. Been reading that book on the benefits of terseness? Or was it brevity 🤔 Just one word from Musk can change a lot of things Lol. He was brimming with optimism. Bernstein is projecting. UMass Memorial doctors save mother and son who nearly died after eating 'death cap' mushroomThe mother and son say symptoms hit in a couple of hours after eating mushrooms. They say it felt like food poisoning but worse. Liberty caps are the ones you want. Yeah, they're called Death Cap for a reason and you prolly shouldn't go around eating wild mushrooms unless you're an expert in identifying them. 🥴 Stooooopid Researchers extracted DNA from the remains of people buried in the East Smithfield plague pits, which were used for mass burials in 1348 and 1349.Associated Press Hide Caption AP Top Stories October 20 A Here's the latest for Thursday October 20th: Judge says Trump signed documents he knew had inaccurate claims; Ukraine says Russia attacked with Iranian drones; Gov't says COVID caused spike in deaths from pregnancy or childbirth complications.According to troopers, Watson was pulled over at about 4 p. USA TODAY A New York woman was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after county officials say they found nearly 300 neglected animals"living among filth" inside her home. Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) hide caption toggle caption Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) Researchers extracted DNA from the remains of people buried in the East Smithfield plague pits, which were used for mass burials in 1348 and 1349. Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) When the bubonic plague arrived in London in 1348, the disease devastated the city. AP NEW ORLEANS — A well-known Baptist minister in New Orleans and Baton Rouge for more than 30 years has admitted defrauding his church, its housing ministries, his congregations and a charter school of almost $900,000. So many people died, so quickly, that the city's cemeteries filled up. He was driving a 2020 Mercedes-Benz SUV eastbound on the Ohio Turnpike at 97 mph in a 70 mph zone. "So the king [Edward III], at the time, bought this piece of land and started digging it," says geneticist Luis Barreiro at the University of Chicago.S. This cemetery, called East Smithfield, became a mass grave, where more than 700 people were buried together.”  The home was deemed “a hoarding situation” with 118 rabbits, 150 birds, 15 cats, seven tortoises, three snakes and several mice, according to the district attorney. "There's basically layers and layers of bodies one on top of each other ," he says. Charles Southall III, 64, pleaded guilty Tuesday to money laundering. He is currently serving an 11-game suspension after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct during his time with the Houston Texans. The city shut down the cemetery when the outbreak ended. In the end, this bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, likely killed 30 to 50% of people in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom. In one instance, Southall took a $10,000 tithe from a congregant in 2019, then diverted the money to his own use, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported. That's a mortality rate that's at least 200 times higher than the one estimated for COVID, Barreiro points out. Copyright 2022 WOIO via Gray Media Group, Inc. Scientists say they've solved a 700-year-old mystery: Where and when Black Death began "We all think that COVID-19 was insane and completely changed the world and our societies," Barreiro says. Southall also created the Edgar P. Jed Painter, assistant district attorney who heads up the office’s environmental and animal crimes unit, said the home was so infested with rodents, roaches and fleas, and smelled so badly of ammonia that investigators had to wear special ventilators and hazmat suits. "COVID has a mortality rate of about 0.05% – something like that. Though Spirit of Excellence received funding from grants and loans, the Baton Rouge school never opened, and investigators said that between 2013 and 2017 nearly $221,000 was diverted to a bank account controlled by Southall and a co-conspirator referred to as Person A in court documents, prosecutors said. Now try to project – if it's even possible – a scenario where 30 to 50% of the population dies." Now a new study, Wednesday in the journal Nature , shows that the Black Death altered more than society: It also likely altered the evolution of the European people's genome. He also sold properties owned by the church, from which he pocketed more than $500,000, prosecutors said. In the study, Barreiro and his colleagues found that Black Death survivors in London and Denmark had an edge in their genes – mutations that helped protect against the plague pathogen, Yersinia pestis . Survivors passed those mutations onto their descendants, and many Europeans still carry those mutations today. But that edge comes at a cost: It increases a person's risk of autoimmune diseases."The exact same genetic variant that we find to be protective against Yersinia pestis is associated with an increased risk for Crohn's disease today," Barreiro says. The study demonstrates how past pandemics could prepare the human immune system to survive future pandemics. "The evolution is faster and stronger than anything we've seen before in the human genome," says evolutionary biologist David Enard at the University of Arizona, who wasn't involved in the study. "It's really a big deal. It shows what's possible [for humans], in terms of adaptation in response to many different pathogens." How A Medieval City Dealing With The Black Death Invented Quarantine In the study, Barreiro and his team set out to answer a simple question: Did the Londoners, who survived the Black Death, carry a mutation – or even mutations – in their genome that protected them from the disease? But to answer that question, they had to do something that almost sounds like wizardry: They had to extract DNA from people who died of the plague 700 years ago. That's where the East Smithfield cemetery becomes so important. Because London officials used this cemetery only during the Black Death, from about 1348 to 1349, scientists know the age of the bodies buried there with extreme precision. And Barreiro and his team could analyze DNA from people who died during three specific time points: before the Black Death, during it and afterwards. Then they looked specifically at genes involved with the immune system to see if any mutations correlated with survival during the plague. The team also ran a similar experiment with DNA extracted from people buried in Denmark. When they combined the two experiments, the researchers hit the jackpot. Using DNA extracted from teeth of people who died before and during the Black Death pandemic, researchers were able to identify genetic differences that dictated who survived and who died from the bacterium. Matt Clarke/McMaster University toggle caption Matt Clarke/McMaster University Using DNA extracted from teeth of people who died before and during the Black Death pandemic, researchers were able to identify genetic differences that dictated who survived and who died from the bacterium. Matt Clarke/McMaster University They found not one, but four mutations that likely gave Londoners an advantage during the Black Death. And the advantage was quite substantial. One mutation, which occurred in a gene called ERAP2, gave people a 40% advantage of survival against the plague. That's the biggest evolutionary advantage ever recorded in humans, Enard says. And the advantage arose lightning fast, he says, over the course of a few decades. Before this study, the strongest example of natural selection in humans was the rise of lactose tolerance in Europeans, Enard says. That evolved over the course of thousands of years and still offered only a few percentage points of advantage in terms of survival. The ERAP2 gene helps to launch a major arm of the immune response earlier on in an infection. People who carry a mutation in the ERAP2 can likely kill invading pathogens more quickly than those without this mutation, Barreiro and his team found. The mutation likely enhances an inflammatory process that helps clear out an infection. But too much inflammation can become problematic, says paleogeneticist Maria Avila Arcos at the National Autonomous University of Mexico."If your immune system is super strong, then that can lead to autoimmune diseases. That's kind of the balance." Indeed, several mutations that protect against the Black Death, including ERAP2, also increase the risk of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, today. Avila Arcos says the new study has a big limitation: It focuses only on a very narrow population, essentially Londoners and people who lived in Denmark at the time. But the Black Death struck many different groups across Europe, Asia and North Africa."There might be way more cellular mechanisms people used to cope with this devastating outbreak," she says."But we're just seeing the mechanisms shared across the English and Danish." Why Pandemics Give Birth To Hate: From Bubonic Plague To COVID-19 By limiting the scope of research to only one small population, the study's findings could also be misinterpreted by the popular media to confirm racist misconceptions about European immunity, says medical historian Monica H. Green, who's studied the Black Death for 15 years. "There's a general idea, found in a lot of these popularizing essays, books and so forth, that Europeans are immunologically superior to every other population on the planet precisely because Europe has had this long history of exposure to all these diseases, like the Black Death," she explains."Basically, if Europeans survived, that automatically means that they're the superior race. " She's concerned the findings of this new study will reinforce this idea because there's no data on other populations, such as people in Asia or northern Africa. "If there's not comparable genetic work on these populations," she says,"then the racists are going to come along and interpret these new findings in any way that they want. " Correction Oct. 22, 2022 In an earlier version of this story, a caption incorrectly identified the pathogen that causes plague as a virus. It is a bacterium. .