丹麦哥本哈根大学Martin Sikora、Eske Willerslev以及英国剑桥大学Eske Willerslev研究团队合作取得最新进展。他们揭示在北欧海盗时代，多样化的天花病毒（天花）菌株已在北欧流行。这一研究成果发表在2020年7月24日出版的《科学》杂志上。

他们从13个北欧人中回收了病毒序列，其中包括11个可追溯到公元600-1050年，与海盗时代重叠，并为其中四个重建了近乎完整的天花病毒基因组。这些样品比最早的确诊天花病例早了约1000年，并且序列显示了现已消灭的现代天花病毒姊妹进化枝，它们早在根除天花之前就流行。

天花病毒的最新共同祖先追溯到大约1700年前。在四个接近完全的序列中，基因灭活的不同模式表明，基因型宿主适应的不同进化途径导致天花病毒在人类中广泛传播。

据悉，天花是最严重的人类疾病之一，仅在20世纪，它就造成3亿至5亿人死亡。

附：英文原文

Title: Diverse variola virus (smallpox) strains were widespread in northern Europe in the Viking Age

Author: Barbara Mühlemann, Lasse Vinner, Ashot Margaryan, Helene Wilhelmson, Constanza de la Fuente Castro, Morten E. Allentoft, Peter de Barros Damgaard, Anders Johannes Hansen, Sofie Holtsmark Nielsen, Lisa Mariann Strand, Jan Bill, Alexandra Buzhilova, Tamara Pushkina, Ceri Falys, Valeri Khartanovich, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Marie Louise Schjellerup Jrkov, Palle stergaard Srensen, Yvonne Magnusson, Ingrid Gustin, Hannes Schroeder, Gerd Sutter, Geoffrey L. Smith, Christian Drosten, Ron A. M. Fouchier, Derek J. Smith, Eske Willerslev, Terry C. Jones, Martin Sikora

Issue&Volume: 2020/07/24

Abstract: Smallpox, one of the most devastating human diseases, killed between 300 million and 500 million people in the 20th century alone. We recovered viral sequences from 13 northern European individuals, including 11 dated to ~600–1050 CE, overlapping the Viking Age, and reconstructed near-complete variola virus genomes for four of them. The samples predate the earliest confirmed smallpox cases by ~1000 years, and the sequences reveal a now-extinct sister clade of the modern variola viruses that were in circulation before the eradication of smallpox. We date the most recent common ancestor of variola virus to ~1700 years ago. Distinct patterns of gene inactivation in the four near-complete sequences show that different evolutionary paths of genotypic host adaptation resulted in variola viruses that circulated widely among humans.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw8977

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6502/eaaw8977