Phanie/Alamy
Ancient DNA reveals that people of European ancestry have lost a gene variant linked to tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility over centuries.
TB is one of the world’s deadliest diseases and is caused by the
Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. People whose DNA contains two copies of a genetic variant called P1104A are more likely to develop symptoms of TB after being infected with the bacterium.
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To trace the frequency of P1104A over time, Gaspard Kerner at the Pasteur Institute in France and his team analysed modern human DNA from around the world and compared it with more than 1000 samples of ancient DNA from Europeans from the past 10,000 years.