ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2008
On the origin of the treponematoses: a phylogenetic approach.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
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49 citing papers in PubMed, 217 citations in OpenAlex.
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- [Origin of Syphilis in Europe: End of a Controversy?]Medecine tropicale et sante internationale · 2025Article
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- Evolutionary Processes in the Emergence and Recent Spread of the Syphilis Agent, Treponema pallidum.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Continental-scale genomic analysis suggests shared post-admixture adaptation in the Americas.Human molecular genetics · 2021Article
- Penicillin Treatment Failure in Rabbit Syphilis Due to the Persistence of Treponemes (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Article
- A treponemal genome from an historic plague victim supports a recent emergence of yaws and its presence in 15Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Identification of positively selected genes in human pathogenic treponemes: Syphilis-, yaws-, and bejel-causing strains differ in sets of genes showing adaptive evolution.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- A Case of Syphilis with High Bone Arsenic Concentration from Early Modern Cemetery (Wroclaw, Poland).Open life sciences · 2019Article
- Directly Sequenced Genomes of Contemporary Strains of Syphilis Reveal Recombination-Driven Diversity in Genes Encoding Predicted Surface-Exposed Antigens.Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Historic Treponema pallidum genomes from Colonial Mexico retrieved from archaeological remains.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2018Article
- Reanalysis of Chinese Treponema pallidum samples: all Chinese samples cluster with SS14-like group of syphilis-causing treponemes.BMC research notes · 2018Article
- Complete genome sequences of two strains of Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue from Ghana, Africa: Identical genome sequences in samples isolated more than 7 years apart.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- Human Treponema pallidum 11q/j isolate belongs to subsp. endemicum but contains two loci with a sequence in TP0548 and TP0488 similar to subsp. pertenue and subsp. pallidum, respectively.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- [Nonviral sexually transmitted infections-epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic workup, therapy : Part 3: Treponemes, Gardnerella and trichomonads].Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift fur Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete · 2017Review
- Sexually transmitted infections: old foes on the rise.Microbial cell (Graz, Austria) · 2016Article
- Tracing the origin of Treponema pallidum in China using next-generation sequencing.Oncotarget · 2016Article
- The Columbian Exchange as a source of adaptive introgression in human populations.Biology direct · 2016Article
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9 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundSince the first recorded epidemic of syphilis in 1495, controversy has surrounded the origins of the bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum and its relationship to the pathogens responsible for the other treponemal diseases: yaws, endemic syphilis, and pinta. Some researchers have argued that the syphilis-causing bacterium, or its progenitor, was brought from the New World to Europe by Christopher Columbus and his men, while others maintain that the treponematoses, including syphilis, have a much longer history on the European continent. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsWe applied phylogenetics to this problem, using data from 21 genetic regions examined in 26 geographically disparate strains of pathogenic Treponema. Of all the strains examined, the venereal syphilis-causing strains originated most recently and were more closely related to yaws-causing strains from South America than to other non-venereal strains. Old World yaws-causing strains occupied a basal position on the tree, indicating that they arose first in human history, and a simian strain of T. pallidum was found to be indistinguishable from them. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results lend support to the Columbian theory of syphilis's origin while suggesting that the non-sexually transmitted subspecies arose earlier in the Old World. This study represents the first attempt to address the problem of the origin of syphilis using molecular genetics, as well as the first source of information regarding the genetic make-up of non-venereal strains from the Western hemisphere.
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