Did You Know??

Scientists recover ancient plague’s DNA from 1,500-year-old-tooth

Submitted by Editor on February 5, 2014    

You may remember having learned about the Black Death in high school—a plague that ravaged medieval Europe during the 14th century, decimating between 30-60% of the continent. But did you know that that the Black Death had an equally malicious predecessor during the Roman Empire? In the year 541, the Justinian plague (named after the Roman emperor who ruled at the time) struck, killing an estimated 50 million people and leading partially to the downfall of the Roman Empire. No joke.
Now, let’s fast forward to modern day: Housing developers digging up farmland outside of Munich were shocked to say the least, when they uncovered a burial site with graves dating back to the Byzantine Empire. Skeletons were all that were left of the plague victims—but inside their teeth was dental pulp that still contained traces of blood, which in turn contained the DNA of the plague bacteria. By decoding the bacteria’s DNA, scientists at the Northern Arizona University and the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University in Ontario, have reconstructed the genome and concluded that the Justinian plague was caused by a strain of Yersina Pestis—the same microbe that later caused Europe’s black death.
Besides it being super cool and future-y that we live in an age where scientists have such a nuanced understanding of human genetics that they’re actually able to decode the DNA OF THE BLACK PLAGUE (right?), it also gives us future insight on how to battle potentially life threatening bacteria. Go science!
And if you’re a flea who’s somehow gained the wherewithal and access to use a computer: you did a terrible thing.