Anthropology ! Kristiina Tam!

ePortolio Report

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How The Black Plague Changed The Human Genome!

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Yes, its true! The plague changed the human genome selecting those with favorable immune system genes while the rest died off. During the 14th century eas piggybacking on rats that came from Asia found the Europeans quite tasty too. Thats when Yersinia Pestis otherwise known as the Black Death spread throughout Europe killing an estimated 25 million people (National Geographic). ! ! In an article from Science Now, It discusses how the plagues after effects changed the way some

Europeans respond to disease and how the migration of gypsies from India 1000 years ago set the pace on how diseases like the plague inuence the human genome (Winter). ! Basically its a case of positive selection. Those who got the mutation lived and had more offspring while the ones who didnt got boils and died miserable deaths thus not having any offspring. But this gift comes with a double edged sword. Many who cary this trait or mutation often suffer from autoimmune and inammatory diseases. You win some and you lose some but if the plague ever came around for round two those people would be ready. ! ! For the testing, Mihai Netea; evolutionary biologist Jaume Bertranpetit of Pompeu Fabra

University in Barcelona, Spain; along with other colleagues looked for differences in more than 196,000 places in the genomes of 100 Romanians of European descent and 100 Rroma. For comparison, the researchers also cataloged these differences in 500 individuals who lived in northwestern India, where the Rroma came from. Then they analyzed which genes had changed the most to see which were most favored by selection (PENNISI).! ! The reason they chose this group of people is because they migrated from Northern India to

Europe and they rarely intermarried with European Romanians, Genetically they have very specic backgrounds but were in the same environment as the rest of everyone else when the plague hit. The result was that the Roma and gypsies from northwestern India had mutations in some of their genes that the Indians didnt have.!

Anthropology ! Kristiina Tam! ePortolio Report

! These mutations were found in the gene that controls skin pigmentation, one involved with inammation, and one that makes the person susceptible to autoimmune diseases. The most prevalent one found that made the doctors excited were a cluster of 3 immune system genes found on the 4th chromosome. The gene that is responsible for toll receptors. These receptors are a type of protein that attach themselves to bacteria and kick in the bodies defense response to the harmful bacteria (PENNISI). ! ! In order to cause the favor of these genes something must have happened in history that caused

the selection to take place and for it to only be prevalent in the Rroma and European Romanians but not in the indians. The Black Death never reached India, Africa or China so there was no pressure for the selection to take place in them. So in short the experience and conditions of the plague changed the Rroma and European Romanians genes in order for them to survive. How ever the study is fairly new and there are other possible causes of the mutations could have occurred due to the interbreeding between the Rroma and Romanians.!

When I was little I wasnt afraid of the boogie man or ghosts, there were only two things that I

feared most and that was the Ice Man found in the alps in 1991 and diseases. Especially those that were incurable and leave devastation and death in their wake have always interested and instilled such fear in me as a kid. If I got a new freckle or mole I was pretty sure I was dying of AIDS, I watched the movie Breakout about the modern spread of the ebola virus and almost had a nervous breakdown. My mother literally had to take me to herbal remedy shops and buy me essential oils that I thought would keep the diseases. ! ! It wasnt until my teen years that the fear subsided and I was able to actually understand these

diseases and how they spread. Before I read this article I had no idea that that mutation occurred and that those genes were passed on form one person to the next. I nd it fascinating how these people can think so outside the box and pinpoint a specic group and test that group based on events in history that took place and the migration that was going on at that time. My mother is of European decent and just so happens to have an autoimmune disease called multiple sclerosis. Could this be caused by the same mutation? Has the resilience of the human species to evolve and build resistance also the culprit of much of my mothers discomfort? !

Anthropology ! Kristiina Tam! ePortolio Report

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! ! Works Cited !

Pennisi, Elizabeth. "Black Death Left a Mark on Human Genome." Science/AAAS. N.p., 03 Feb. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. ! "Plague." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. ! Winter, Lisa. "The Black Death Reshaped the Human Genome." I Fucking Love Science. N.p., 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. !