PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
In the period between 5,300 and 4,900 calibrated years before present (cal. BP), populations across large parts of Europe underwent a period of demographic decline1,2. However, the cause of this so-called Neolithic decline is still debated. Some argue for an agricultural crisis resulting in the decline3, others for the spread of an early form of plague4. Here we use population-scale ancient genomics to infer ancestry, social structure and pathogen infection in 108 Scandinavian Neolithic individuals from eight megalithic graves and a stone cist. We find that the Neolithic plague was widespread, detected in at least 17% of the sampled population and across large geographical distances. We demonstrate that the disease spread within the Neolithic community in three distinct infection events within a period of around 120 years. Variant graph-based pan-genomics shows that the Neolithic plague genomes retained ancestral genomic variation present in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, including virulence factors associated with disease outcomes. In addition, we reconstruct four multigeneration pedigrees, the largest of which consists of 38 individuals spanning six generations, showing a patrilineal social organization. Lastly, we document direct genomic evidence for Neolithic female exogamy in a woman buried in a different megalithic tomb than her brothers. Taken together, our findings provide a detailed reconstruction of plague spread within a large patrilineal kinship group and identify multiple plague infections in a population dated to the beginning of the Neolithic decline.
摘要：
在现在之前的5300到4900个校准年份之间的时期(Cal。BP),欧洲大部分地区的人口经历了一段时间的人口下降1,2。然而,这种所谓的新石器时代衰落的原因仍然存在争议。一些人主张农业危机导致衰退3，另一些人则主张早期形式的瘟疫4的传播。在这里，我们使用人口规模的古代基因组学来推断祖先，来自八个巨石坟墓和一个石匠的108个斯堪的纳维亚新石器时代个体的社会结构和病原体感染。我们发现新石器时代的瘟疫很普遍，在至少17%的抽样人群中检测到，并且跨越大的地理距离。我们证明了这种疾病在大约120年的时间内以三种不同的感染事件在新石器时代社区中传播。基于变体图的泛基因组学表明，新石器时代鼠疫基因组保留了假结核耶尔森氏菌中存在的祖先基因组变异，包括与疾病预后相关的毒力因子。此外,我们重建了四个多代血统，其中最大的由38个人组成，跨越六代，展示了一个父系社会组织。最后,我们记录了新石器时代女性外婚的直接基因组证据，该女性被埋在与她兄弟不同的巨石墓中。一起来看,我们的发现提供了鼠疫在大型父系亲属关系中传播的详细重建，并确定了可追溯到新石器时代衰落开始的人群中的多种鼠疫感染。
