Publication

History and Phylogeography of Leprosy

2012

Abstract

Leprosy results from infection with Mycobacterium leprae, an unculturable pathogen with an exceptionally long generation time that has afflicted human populations for millenia. The history of leprosy has been documented by various civilizations and its global spread deduced from the anthropological record, although scientific proof for the latter is often lacking. Considerable insight into the biology, genetics, and evolution of the leprosy bacillus has been obtained from genomics. M. leprae has undergone extensive reductive evolution, losing DNA from its genome, half of which is now occupied by pseudogenes. Comparative genomics of four different strains from India, Brazil, Thailand, and the USA revealed remarkable conservation of the ~3.27-megabase genome (99.995% identity) yet uncovered 215 polymorphic sites, mainly single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and a handful of new pseudogenes. Mapping these polymorphisms in a large panel of strains defined 16 SNP subtypes that showed strong geographical associations and helped retrace the evolution of M. leprae and the dissemination of leprosy.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/18d4536e-1f92-4ff7-aa0a-b937b7864282

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2012

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/18d4536e-1f92-4ff7-aa0a-b937b7864282

About this result

Related concepts (32)

Mycobacterium leprae

Mycobacterium leprae (also known as the leprosy bacillus or Hansen's bacillus) is one of the two species of bacteria that cause Hansen’s disease (leprosy), a chronic but curable infectious disease that damages the peripheral nerves and targets the skin, eyes, nose, and muscles. It is an acid-fast, Gram-positive, rod shaped bacterium and an obligate intracellular parasite, which means, unlike its relative Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it cannot be grown in cell-free laboratory media.

Gene polymorphism

A gene is said to be polymorphic if more than one allele occupies that gene's locus within a population. In addition to having more than one allele at a specific locus, each allele must also occur in the population at a rate of at least 1% to generally be considered polymorphic. Gene polymorphisms can occur in any region of the genome. The majority of polymorphisms are silent, meaning they do not alter the function or expression of a gene. Some polymorphisms are visible.

Polymorphism (biology)

In biology, polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative phenotypes, in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the same time and belong to a panmictic population (one with random mating). Put simply, polymorphism is when there are two or more possibilities of a trait on a gene. For example, there is more than one possible trait in terms of a jaguar's skin colouring; they can be light morph or dark morph.

Related publications (9)

History and Phylogeography of Leprosy

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