Bronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineage

Abstract excerpt

Most human pathogens are of zoonotic origin. Many emerged during prehistory, coinciding with domestication providing more opportunities for spillover into human populations. However, we lack direct DNA evidence linking animal and human infections during prehistory. Here, we present a Yersinia pestis genome recovered from a 3rd-millennium BCE domesticated sheep from the Eurasian Steppe belonging to the Late...

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