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Charlotte Avanzi

@avanzich.bsky.social

Reposted by Charlotte Avanzi

Maria Lopopolo @marialopopolo.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Did leprosy exist in the Americas before European invasion? Our lab #aDNA study at @institutpasteur.bsky.social supervised by @nrascovan.bsky.social in collab with @avanzich.bsky.social (CSU) finds M.lepromatosis in pre-colonial Ancestors from North and South America www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Pre-European contact leprosy in the Americas and its current persistence

Leprosy, primarily caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is considered a disease introduced into the Americas during European colonization. However, the recent discovery of a second pathogen causing leprosy...

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Reposted by Charlotte Avanzi

Science Magazine @science.org · 29/05/2025

A new Science study shows that the mycobacterium M. lepromatosis infected humans in the Americas before European contact. The findings reshape current views of leprosy in the Americas and provide insights into the long-term interactions between humans and infectious diseases. scim.ag/3HuEjGB

Fig. 1. Contemporary and ancient sample sites in the Americas and synteny plot between genomes of leprosy-causing bacteria.

(A) Pie charts indicate the site location or countries from where samples were collected for screening. Charts are color-coded according to the presence or absence of M. lepromatosis and if they are from present-day biopsies or ancient archaeological origin.

(B) Illustration of mauve progressive alignments showing possible genome rearrangements and synteny blocks between four leprosy-causing bacterial genomes using pyGenomeViz (35). Species (and strains in parentheses) are indicated in bold on the left. Genome sizes are shown in megabases (Mb) below each genome. The Viridis color palette (Matplotlib) is used to represent genome position along the M. lepromatosis reference genome (NHDP-LPM-385), with a continuous gradient from start to end. Genomes that are fully syntenic with the reference, such as other M. lepromatosis strains, display an almost identical color order, reflecting preserved genomic structure. In contrast, the M. leprae TN genome shows a disrupted color sequence due to differences in genome organization relative to the coordinates of the M. lepromatosis reference. Gray lines connect collinear regions, while orange highlights indicate inverted blocks (on the minus strand) relative to the NHDP-LPM-385 reference.

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