US EditionAncient skeletons reveal viruses embedded in human DNA
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4 Articles
Ancient skeletons reveal viruses embedded in human DNA
Researchers have reconstructed ancient herpesvirus genomes from Iron Age and medieval Europeans, revealing that HHV-6 has been infecting humans for at least 2,500 years. Some people inherited the virus directly in their DNA, passing it down across generations. The study shows that these viruses evolved alongside humans—and that one strain eventually lost its ability to integrate into our chromosomes. It’s the first time this long, intimate relat…
Iron Age DNA Reveals a Herpesvirus That Still Infects Humans Today
Learn how ancient DNA from human remains provided the first direct evidence that a common childhood virus has been part of the human genome since the Iron Age. Ancient human remains, not associated with the study. Human herpesvirus 6 is now almost universal, with most people becoming infected in early childhood. New evidence suggests that this relationship is much older than previously demonstrated—and in some cases far more permanent than once…
For the first time, scientists have reconstructed ancient genomes of human beta-herpesviruses 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/B) from archaeological human remains over two millennia old. The study, led by the University of Vienna and the University of Tartu (Estonia), and published in Science Advances...
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