Prehistoric Roots of Herpes Traced Through Ancient DNA

Topic: Anthropology and Disability
Author: University of Cambridge
Published: 2022/07/27 - Updated: 2023/01/04 - Peer-Reviewed: Yes
Contents: Summary - Definition - Introduction - Main Item - Related Topics

Synopsis: An international team of scientists uncovered and sequenced ancient genomes from the herpes virus that commonly causes lip sores. By comparing ancient DNA with herpes samples from the 20th century, we could analyze the differences and estimate a mutation rate and, consequently, a timeline for virus evolution. However, something happened around five thousand years ago that allowed one strain of herpes to overtake all others, possibly increasing transmissions, which could have been linked to kissing.

Introduction

Ancient genomes from the herpes virus that commonly causes lip sores - and currently infects some 3.7 billion people globally - have been uncovered and sequenced for the first time by an international team of scientists led by the University of Cambridge.

Main Item

Latest research suggests that the HSV-1 virus strain behind facial herpes as we know it today arose around five thousand years ago, in the wake of vast Bronze Age migrations into Europe from the Steppe grasslands of Eurasia and associated population booms that drove rates of transmission.

Herpes has a history stretching back millions of years, and forms of the virus infect species from bats to coral. Despite its current prevalence among humans, scientists say ancient examples of HSV-1 were surprisingly hard to find.

The study's authors, published in the journal Science Advances, say the Neolithic flourishing of facial herpes detected in the ancient DNA may have coincided with the advent of a new cultural practice imported from the east: romantic and sexual kissing.

"The world has watched COVID-19 mutate at a rapid rate over weeks and months. virus-like herpes evolves on a far grander timescale," said co-senior author Dr. Charlotte Houldcroft, from Cambridge's Department of Genetics.

"Facial herpes hides in its host for life and only transmits through oral contact, so mutations occur slowly over centuries and millennia. We need to do deep investigations to understand how DNA viruses like this evolve," she said. "Previously, genetic data for herpes only went back to 1925."

The team managed to hunt down herpes in the remains of four individuals stretching over a thousand years and extract viral DNA from the roots of teeth. Herpes often flares up with mouth infections: at least two ancient corpses had gum disease and third smoked tobacco.

The oldest sample came from an adult male excavated in Russia's Ural Mountains, dating from the late Iron Age around 1,500 years ago.

Two other samples were local to Cambridge, UK. One is a female from an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery a few miles south of the city, dating from the 6-7th centuries CE. The other was a young adult male from the late 14th century, buried in the grounds of medieval Cambridge's charitable hospital (later to become St. John's College), who had suffered appalling dental abscesses.

Continued below image.
The Skeleton of a young adult male is buried on the grounds of a medieval charitable hospital in Cambridge, U.K. One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a young adult male from the late 14th century, buried on the grounds of medieval Cambridge’s charitable hospital (later to become St. John's College), who had suffered appalling dental abscesses - Image Credit: Craig Cessford/Cambridge Archaeological Unit.
The Skeleton of a young adult male is buried on the grounds of a medieval charitable hospital in Cambridge, U.K. One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA came from a young adult male from the late 14th century, buried on the grounds of medieval Cambridge’s charitable hospital (later to become St. John's College), who had suffered appalling dental abscesses - Image Credit: Craig Cessford/Cambridge Archaeological Unit.
Continued...

The final sample came from a young adult male excavated in Holland: a fervent clay pipe smoker, most likely massacred by a French attack on his village on the banks of the Rhine in 1672.

Continued below image.
Teeth and skull of a young adult male from 17th century Holland. One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA used in the study came from a male 26-35 years old, excavated near the banks of the Rhine. The man was a fervent smoker of clay pipes. Traces of the habit are visible in multiple places on the teeth, where the hard clay pipe, usually put in the same place in the mouth, has worn the teeth - Image Credit: Dr. Barbara Veselka.
Teeth and skull of a young adult male from 17th century Holland. One of the samples of ancient herpes DNA used in the study came from a male 26-35 years old, excavated near the banks of the Rhine. The man was a fervent smoker of clay pipes. Traces of the habit are visible in multiple places on the teeth, where the hard clay pipe, usually put in the same place in the mouth, has worn the teeth - Image Credit: Dr. Barbara Veselka.
Continued...

"We screened ancient DNA samples from around 3,000 archaeological finds and got just four herpes hits," said co-lead author Dr. Meriam Guellil, from Tartu University's Institute of Genomics.

"By comparing ancient DNA with herpes samples from the 20th century, we were able to analyze the differences and estimate a mutation rate, and consequently a timeline for virus evolution," said co-lead author Dr. Lucy van Dorp, from the UCL Genetics Institute.

Co-senior author Dr. Christiana Scheib, Research Fellow at St. John's College, University of Cambridge, and Head of the Ancient DNA lab at Tartu University, said:

"Every primate species has a form of herpes, so we assume it has been with us since our species left Africa."

"However, something happened around five thousand years ago that allowed one strain of herpes to overtake all others, possibly an increase in transmissions, which could have been linked to kissing."

The researchers point out that the earliest known record of kissing is a Bronze Age manuscript from South Asia and suggest the custom - far from universal in human cultures - may have traveled westward with migrations into Europe from Eurasia.

Centuries later, the Roman Emperor Tiberius tried to ban kissing at official functions to prevent disease spread, a decree that may have been herpes-related. However, for most of human prehistory, HSV-1 transmission would have been "vertical": the same strain passing from infected mother to newborn child.

Two-thirds of the global population under 50 now carry HSV-1, according to the World Health Organisation. For most of us, the occasional lip sores that result are embarrassing and uncomfortable, but in combination with other ailments - sepsis or even COVID-19, for example - the virus can be fatal. In 2018, two women died of HSV-1 infection in the UK following Caesarean births.

"Only genetic samples that are hundreds or even thousands of years old will allow us to understand how DNA viruses such as herpes and monkeypox, as well as our immune systems, are adapting in response to each other," said Houldcroft.

The team would like to trace this hardy primordial disease even deeper through time to investigate its infection of early hominins.

"Neanderthal herpes is my next mountain to climb," added Scheib.

The Hominin Species That Gave Us Genital Herpes

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its significant relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by University of Cambridge, and published on 2022/07/27 (Edit Update: 2023/01/04), the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For further details or clarifications, University of Cambridge can be contacted at cam.ac.uk. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranties or endorsements related to this article.

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