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Genes
that may have allowed medieval peoples to survive the Black Death continue to play a
major part in the immune systems of European descendants today,
according to a new study published in the journal Nature.
“Our genome today is a reflection of our whole evolutionary history,”
researcher Luis Barreiro told the Associated Press.
Barreiro’s team found that survivors of the bubonic plague had a gene
mutation, called Yersinia pestis, that they then passed down to their
descendants. Though this protective gene may increase a person’s risk of
autoimmune disease — Yersinia pestis is also associated with Crohn’s disease
— the research sheds light on how pandemics of the past can prepare our
immune systems for the future.
“The evolution is faster and stronger than anything we’ve seen before in the
human genome,” evolutionary biologist David Enard, who was not associated
with the study, told NPR. “It’s really a big
deal. It shows what's possible [for humans], in terms of
adaptation in response to many different pathogens.”
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