Description: Modern strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the Americas are closely related to those from Europe, supporting the assumption that human tuberculosis was introduced post-contact. This notion, however, is incompatible with archaeological evidence of pre-contact tuberculosis in the New World. Comparative genomics of modern isolates suggests that M. tuberculosis attained its worldwide distribution following human dispersals out of Africa during the Pleistocene epoch, although this has yet to be confirmed with ancient calibration points. Here we present three 1,000-year-old mycobacterial genomes from Peruvian human skeletons, revealing that a member of the M. tuberculosis complex caused human disease before contact. The ancient strains are distinct from known human-adapted forms and are most closely related to those adapted to seals and sea lions. Two independent dating approaches suggest a most recent common ancestor for the M. tuberculosis complex less than 6,000 years ago, which supports a Holocene dispersal of the disease. Our results implicate sea mammals as having played a role in transmitting the disease to humans across the ocean.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4550673/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4550673/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bos, Kirsten I -- Harkins, Kelly M -- Herbig, Alexander -- Coscolla, Mireia -- Weber, Nico -- Comas, Inaki -- Forrest, Stephen A -- Bryant, Josephine M -- Harris, Simon R -- Schuenemann, Verena J -- Campbell, Tessa J -- Majander, Kerttu -- Wilbur, Alicia K -- Guichon, Ricardo A -- Wolfe Steadman, Dawnie L -- Cook, Della Collins -- Niemann, Stefan -- Behr, Marcel A -- Zumarraga, Martin -- Bastida, Ricardo -- Huson, Daniel -- Nieselt, Kay -- Young, Douglas -- Parkhill, Julian -- Buikstra, Jane E -- Gagneux, Sebastien -- Stone, Anne C -- Krause, Johannes -- 098051/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- AI090928/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- MC_U117581288/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- R01 AI090928/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2014 Oct 23;514(7523):494-7. doi: 10.1038/nature13591. Epub 2014 Aug 20.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Tubingen, Ruemelinstrasse 23, 72070 Tubingen, Germany [2]. ; 1] School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 872402, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402, USA [2]. ; 1] Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Tubingen, Ruemelinstrasse 23, 72070 Tubingen, Germany [2] Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tubingen, Sand 14, 72076 Tubingen, Germany [3]. ; 1] Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland [2] University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland [3]. ; Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tubingen, Sand 14, 72076 Tubingen, Germany. ; 1] Genomics and Health Unit, FISABIO-Public Health, Avenida Cataluna 21, 46020 Valencia, Spain [2] CIBER (Centros de Investigacion Biomedica en Red) in Epidemiology and Public Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/ Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Pabellon 11, Planta 0, 28029 Madrid, Spain. ; Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Tubingen, Ruemelinstrasse 23, 72070 Tubingen, Germany. ; Pathogen Genomics, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK. ; Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X1, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa. ; School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 872402, Tempe, Arizona 85287-2402, USA. ; CONICET, Laboratorio de Ecologia Evolutiva Humana (FACSO, UNCPBA), Departamento de Biologia (FCEyN, UNMDP), Calle 508 No. 881 (7631), Quequen, Argentina. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, 250 South Stadium Hall, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA. ; Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, 701 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-7100, USA. ; 1] Molecular Mycobacteriology, Forschungszentrum Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845 Borstel, Germany [2] German Center for Infection Research, Forschungszentrum Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845 Borstel, Germany. ; McGill International TB Centre, McGill University, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal H3G 1A4, Canada. ; Biotechnology Institute, CICVyA-INTA Castelar, Dr. Nicolas Repetto y De Los Reseros S/N, (B1686IGC) Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ; Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (CONICET-UNMdP), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, San Luis 1722, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Imperial College, London W2 1PG, UK [2] Division of Mycobacterial Research, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK. ; 1] Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland [2] University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland. ; 1] Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Tubingen, Ruemelinstrasse 23, 72070 Tubingen, Germany [2] Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tubingen, Tubingen 72070, Germany [3] Max Planck Institute for Science and History, Khalaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25141181" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The appearance of anatomically modern humans in Europe and the nature of the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic are matters of intense debate. Most researchers accept that before the arrival of anatomically modern humans, Neanderthals had adopted several 'transitional' technocomplexes. Two of these, the Uluzzian of southern Europe and the Chatelperronian of western Europe, are key to current interpretations regarding the timing of arrival of anatomically modern humans in the region and their potential interaction with Neanderthal populations. They are also central to current debates regarding the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals and the reasons behind their extinction. However, the actual fossil evidence associated with these assemblages is scant and fragmentary, and recent work has questioned the attribution of the Chatelperronian to Neanderthals on the basis of taphonomic mixing and lithic analysis. Here we reanalyse the deciduous molars from the Grotta del Cavallo (southern Italy), associated with the Uluzzian and originally classified as Neanderthal. Using two independent morphometric methods based on microtomographic data, we show that the Cavallo specimens can be attributed to anatomically modern humans. The secure context of the teeth provides crucial evidence that the makers of the Uluzzian technocomplex were therefore not Neanderthals. In addition, new chronometric data for the Uluzzian layers of Grotta del Cavallo obtained from associated shell beads and included within a Bayesian age model show that the teeth must date to ~45,000-43,000 calendar years before present. The Cavallo human remains are therefore the oldest known European anatomically modern humans, confirming a rapid dispersal of modern humans across the continent before the Aurignacian and the disappearance of Neanderthals.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Benazzi, Stefano -- Douka, Katerina -- Fornai, Cinzia -- Bauer, Catherine C -- Kullmer, Ottmar -- Svoboda, Jiri -- Pap, Ildiko -- Mallegni, Francesco -- Bayle, Priscilla -- Coquerelle, Michael -- Condemi, Silvana -- Ronchitelli, Annamaria -- Harvati, Katerina -- Weber, Gerhard W -- England -- Nature. 2011 Nov 2;479(7374):525-8. doi: 10.1038/nature10617.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria. stefano.benazzi@univie.ac.at〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22048311" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉