marcelkeller.bsky.social

marcelkeller.bsky.social

@marcelkeller.bsky.social

223 followers224 following8 posts

marcelkeller.bsky.social reposted

Kevin Daly
@gingerhowley.bsky.social

Our paper on ancient sheeppox virus genomes, including many found from parchment samples, is now published af Science Advances. Congrats to all our co-authors and particularly first author Louis. #aDNA share.google/JqVOTB2lvxcO...

share.googleThree thousand five hundred years of sheeppox virus evolution inferred from archaeological and codicological genomesSheeppox virus (SPPV) is a major livestock pathogen causing economic hardship through reduced production and death of vulnerable sheep, with written descriptions of sheeppox-like disease recorded sinc...
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marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

6) We identify several clusters of identical genomes, i.e. incidents in which strains spread widely without accumulating additional mutations. One of those events (N18) happened in the Baltic region right after the Little Polytomy (N16), highlighting this period as particularly proliferative.

marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

7) With our refined phylochronology, we decided to reassess all published genomes along with our new ones, resulting in a 60-page SI section, providing a critical discussion of all data, our reasoning, and primary sources supporting the suggested plague outbreaks associated with the genomes.

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marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

4) In the absence of sufficient RC metadata, we applied a generic offset and got satisfactory results that we could cross-validate against other chronological data. Despite the increased uncertainty through applying a generic offset, our model was able to significantly shorten the RC intervals.

marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

5) Working with non-UDG data is challenging, since environmental contamination cannot be easily filtered while allowing for deamination damage. We developed 2 new approaches to reduce the # of false SNPs in those genomes without affecting phylogenetically informative positions.

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marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

2) We describe a Little Polytomy around 1450-1500 that gave rise to two major clades and – to our current knowledge – additional short-lived clades. Another lineage surviving for at least a century branching just one SNP before, suggesting that several new reservoirs were seeded during this period.

marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

3) Modeling with uncorrected radiocarbon dates results in poor support since several RC dates appear too old. We conclude that RC dates of human remains are often affected by reservoir effects and offsets that need to be considered in contexts where a difference of a decade changes the whole story.

marcelkeller.bsky.social
@marcelkeller.bsky.social

Some highlights: 1) We identify repeated introductions of plague into Estonia, from the late 14th c. until one of the last major outbreaks in 1710 during the Great Northern War. We found plague victims at both urban and rural sites, showing how well-connected the region was to the rest of Europe.

marcelkeller.bsky.social reposted

SPAAM
@spaam-community.bsky.social

🗳️🗳️Dear SPAAM community, have you voted for the SPAAM8 2026 meeting location yet? The poll is open until Nov 22! Check Element General Room to choose your preferred option (Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm, or online). Your input matters—help shape our next annual meeting!

marcelkeller.bsky.social reposted

Lucy van Dorp
@lucyvandorp.bsky.social

Excited to say we’re hiring 😊. We’re looking for a post-doc in ancient pathogen genomics to join our friendly supportive team in London at @ugiatucl.bsky.social. Start date January 2026. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

ucl.ac.ukUCL – University College LondonUCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

marcelkeller.bsky.social reposted

i-light-maka.bsky.social
@i-light-maka.bsky.social

Finally getting some of my research for my PhD out there! Hopefully soon in a journal near you ;) Ancient Y. pestis infection from a sheep falls on the LNBA lineage, previously only known from humans! +molecular evolutionary analysis to leverage the ever increasing number of ancient genomes known!

Felix M Key@keyfm.bsky.social

Many zoonotic diseases are believed to have emerged during prehistory, but can we actually identify their past host range using ancient DNA? In the first publication of the Key Lab we present a 4000y old Yersinia pestis genome reconstructed from domesticated sheep. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgBronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineageMost human pathogens are of zoonotic origin. Many emerged during prehistory, coinciding with domestication providing more opportunities for spillover from original host species. However, we lack direc...

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