Black Death Drove Selection of Human Immune-Related Genes, Affecting Our
Research has uncovered new evidence that one of the darkest periods in recorded human history placed considerable selective pressure on the human population, changing the frequency of certain immune-related genetic variants and affecting our susceptibility to disease today.
The Black Death, which killed up to 50% of the European population in less than five years, was the single greatest mortality event in recorded history. New research has discovered evidence that one of the darkest periods in recorded human history placed a substantial selective pressure on the human population, changing the frequency of certain immune-related genetic variants and affecting our susceptibility to disease today.
The Black Death (also called the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or simply the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic in recorded human history, causing the deaths of 75–200 million people. The plague created significant religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.
The results of the study, which was conducted by the
Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis), the global pandemic of the bubonic plague wiped out 30% to 60% of people in cities across North Africa, Europe, and Asia, with massive repercussions for the human race — and, apparently, our genome.
“This was a very direct way to evaluate the impact that a single pathogen had on human evolution,” said co-senior author on the study, Luis Barreiro, PhD, Professor of Genetic Medicine at UChicago. “People have speculated for a long time that the Black Death might be a strong cause of selection, but it’s hard to demonstrate that when looking at modern populations, because humans had to face many other selective pressures between then and now. The only way to address the question is to narrow the time window we’re looking at.”
New research from the University of Chicago, McMaster University, and the Institut Pasteur has found evidence that one of the darkest periods in recorded human history placed a significant selective pressure on the human population, changing the frequency of certain immune-related genetic variants and affecting our susceptibility to disease today. Credit: UChicago Medicine
In the study, the scientists took advantage of recent advances in sequencing technology to examine ancient 
A member of the Barreiro lab works in the tissue culture hood. Credit: UChicago Medicine
The research team zeroed in on one gene with a particularly strong association to susceptibility: ERAP2. Individuals who possessed two copies of one specific genetic variant, dubbed rs2549794, were able to produce full-length copies of the ERAP2 transcript, therefore producing more of the functional protein, compared to another variant that led to a truncated and non-functional version of the transcript….
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