ArticlePLoS pathogens2010
Distinct clones of Yersinia pestis caused the black death.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers.
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Who cites it
93 citing papers in PubMed, 369 citations in OpenAlex.
- Insights into infectious diseases through ancient pathogen genomics.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Whole genome sequencing of Yersinia pestis isolates from Central Asian natural plague foci revealed the role of adaptation to different hosts and environmental conditions in shaping specific genotypes.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- A Heavy Issue: Changes in Body Size in London Before, During and After the Black Death.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Differential pathogenicity and lethality of bubonic plague (1720-1945) by sex, age and place.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Pathogen prospecting of museums: Reconstructing malaria epidemiology.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Yersinia entomophaga Tc toxin is released by T10SS-dependent lysis of specialized cell subpopulations.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- AncientProceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- 14th century Yersinia pestis genomes support emergence of pestis secunda within Europe.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- No evidence for persistent natural plague reservoirs in historical and modern Europe.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Historic and Prehistoric Epidemics: An Overview of Sources Available for the Study of Ancient Pathogens.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- State and citizen responsiveness in fighting a pandemic crisis: A systems thinking perspective.Systems research and behavioral science · 2022Article
- The Notable Achievements and the Prospects of Bacterial Pathogen Genomics.Microorganisms · 2022Article
- Preventive Measures against Pandemics from the Beginning of Civilization to Nowadays-How Everything Has Remained the Same over the Millennia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Previously published ethno-pharmacological reports reveal the potentiality of plants and plant-derived products used as traditional home remedies by Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients to combat SARS-CoV-2.Saudi journal of biological sciences · 2021Article
- Assessing the origins of the European Plagues following the Black Death: A synthesis of genomic, historical, and ecological information.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Mass burial genomics reveals outbreak of enteric paratyphoid fever in the Late Medieval trade city Lübeck.iScience · 2021Article
- Antibiotic Therapy of Plague: A Review.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- Protection against severe infectious disease in the past.Pathogens and global health · 2021Review
- The influence of vector-borne disease on human history: socio-ecological mechanisms.Ecology letters · 2021Review
- Pandemic Reemergence and Four Waves of Excess Mortality Coinciding With the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Michigan: Insights for COVID-19.American journal of public health · 2021Article
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 10 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
From AD 1347 to AD 1353, the Black Death killed tens of millions of people in Europe, leaving misery and devastation in its wake, with successive epidemics ravaging the continent until the 18(th) century. The etiology of this disease has remained highly controversial, ranging from claims based on genetics and the historical descriptions of symptoms that it was caused by Yersinia pestis to conclusions that it must have been caused by other pathogens. It has also been disputed whether plague had the same etiology in northern and southern Europe. Here we identified DNA and protein signatures specific for Y. pestis in human skeletons from mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were associated archaeologically with the Black Death and subsequent resurgences. We confirm that Y. pestis caused the Black Death and later epidemics on the entire European continent over the course of four centuries. Furthermore, on the basis of 17 single nucleotide polymorphisms plus the absence of a deletion in glpD gene, our aDNA results identified two previously unknown but related clades of Y. pestis associated with distinct medieval mass graves. These findings suggest that plague was imported to Europe on two or more occasions, each following a distinct route. These two clades are ancestral to modern isolates of Y. pestis biovars Orientalis and Medievalis. Our results clarify the etiology of the Black Death and provide a paradigm for a detailed historical reconstruction of the infection routes followed by this disease.
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