The Plague of Evolution

Illustration by Christoph Niemann Illustration by Christoph Niemann

The Paper: Genome Sequence of Yersinia pestis KIM

The Journal: Journal of Bacteriology, August 2002

The Author: Wen Deng, Valerie Burland, Frederick Blattner et al.


The Gist: Nothing holds down world population quite like jumping genes.

Before Translation: There are three regions where multiple inversions appear to have taken place. For each region we calculate the most parsimonious series of inversions that could account for the organizational differences between the two genomes. In most steps, it was possible to identify a sequence homology ... that could have given rise to the proposed inversion.

In 1348, wrote Italian poet Giovanni Bocaccio, the bubonic plague struck Europe, for which "neither the advice of physicians nor the power of medicine appeared to have any value." It "began with swellings in the groin and armpit, in both men and women, some of which were as big as apples and some of which were shaped like eggs . . . certain indications of coming death." Worst of all, "whenever the disease mixed with healthy people, like a fire through dry grass or oil, it would rush upon the healthy." A third of Europe's population was struck down by the Black Death. The unassuming culprit: a safety-pin-shaped bacterium named Yersinia pestis.




Today, scientists around the world are keenly interested in better understanding the bug. Not only because it still breaks out periodically, but also because of the unpredictable manner in which it evolves. With this in mind, Frederick Blattner and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin's Genome Center decided to sequence the organism's DNA. By learning more about how it evolved in the past, they believe, perhaps scientists can better judge how the deadly bacterium might behave in the future.




Y. pestis has three major strains. Blattner's group focused on Mediaevalis, which is believed to be much the same as the variety that caused the Black Death.