Up to 50% of Europeans died from the plague. Now a new study shows that those who lived had a protective gene mutation they passed on to bolster immunity — but it comes at a cost.
Researchers extracted DNA from the remains of people buried in the East Smithfield plague pits, which were used for mass burials in 1348 and 1349.Researchers extracted DNA from the remains of people buried in the East Smithfield plague pits, which were used for mass burials in 1348 and 1349.When the bubonic plague arrived in London in 1348, the disease devastated the city. So many people died, so quickly, that the city's cemeteries filled up.
But that edge comes at a cost: It increases a person's risk of autoimmune diseases."The exact same genetic variant that we find to be protective againstThe study demonstrates how past pandemics could prepare the human immune system to survive future pandemics. That's where the East Smithfield cemetery becomes so important. Because London officials used this cemetery only during the Black Death, from about 1348 to 1349, scientists know the age of the bodies buried there with extreme precision. And Barreiro and his team could analyze DNA from people who died during three specific time points: before the Black Death, during it and afterwards.
Before this study, the strongest example of natural selection in humans was the rise of lactose tolerance in Europeans, Enard says. That evolved over the course of thousands of years and still offered only a few percentage points of advantage in terms of survival. Indeed, several mutations that protect against the Black Death, including ERAP2, also increase the risk of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, today.
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