Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The origins and dispersal of ancient leishmaniasis in the New World: A bioarchaeological and molecular approach

今天，利什曼病影响着全世界数百万人，导致毁容病变和致命的并发症。世界卫生组织将利什曼病视为“被忽视的热带疾病”，它是贫困国家的地方病，每年发病率上升近200万例，但缺乏有效的治疗或预防。利什曼病的全球地理分布及其对人类健康和福祉的影响使其成为最重要的被忽视疾病之一。 然而，利什曼病不仅仅是一种当代的痛苦。生物考古学、民族史和遗传学领域提供的证据支持，早在有历史记载之前，利什曼病就已经成为人类的负担。尽管如此，寄生虫的起源和运动，因为它演变和分散在整个地球仪仍然知之甚少。这个项目由博士生凯利哈金斯（亚利桑那州立大学），在博士的监督下，安妮斯通和简Buikstra，将使用分子和生物考古技术，以获得DNA从一个样本的不太了解当代利什曼原虫菌株和考古恢复人类遗骸。这些数据将用于测试假设，解决寄生虫利什曼原虫的进化历史和人类利什曼病在新世界的出现，这两者都是正在进行的辩论的来源。具体而言，该项目建议从已知最早的新世界利什曼病骨骼病例在安第斯山脉菌株的特点，探索这些早期菌株的关系，现代菌株发现在整个地球仪今天，并从考古和民族历史背景的额外数据，以解决疾病的运动在史前南美人口的性质。该项目将公开传播新的基因组序列数据，这对了解病原体生物学至关重要，也是致力于改善全球公共卫生的领域和研究人员的有力工具。

Leishmaniaisis affects millions of people worldwide today, resulting in disfiguring lesions and fatal complications. The World Health Organization regards leishmaniasis as a "Neglected Tropical Disease," endemic to poverty-stricken countries and rising in incidence by nearly two million cases annually, but lacking effective treatment or prevention. Its worldwide geographic distribution and its impact on human health and well-being make leishmaniasis one of the most significant of the neglected diseases. Leishmaniasis is not, however, solely a contemporary affliction. The fields of bioarchaeology, ethnohistory and genetics provide evidence to support that leishmaniasis has been a burden to humanity long before recorded history. Nevertheless, the origins and movement of the parasite as it evolved and dispersed throughout the globe remains poorly understood.This project by doctoral student Kelly Harkins (Arizona State University), under the supervision of Drs. Anne Stone and Jane Buikstra, will use molecular and bioarchaeological techniques to obtain DNA from a sample of poorly understood contemporary Leishmania strains and archaeologically recovered human remains. These data will be used to test hypotheses that address the evolutionary history of the parasite Leishmania and the emergence of human leishmaniasis in the New World, both of which are the source of ongoing debate. Specifically, this project proposes to characterize strains from the earliest known skeletal cases of New World leishmaniasis in the Andes, to explore the relationship of these early strains to modern strains found throughout the globe today, and with additional data from archaeological and ethnohistoric contexts, to address the nature of the disease's movement in prehistoric South American populations. This project will publicly disseminate new genomic sequence data, essential for understanding pathogen biology and also a powerful tool for those fields and researchers working to improve global public health.