ArticleMicrobial genomics2023
Analysis of variola virus molecular evolution suggests an old origin of the virus consistent with historical records.
Article in Microbial genomics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Genetic Risk Variant Associated With the Risk of Primary Biliary Cholangitis Is Inherited From Neanderthals.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026Article
- Article
- The history of smallpox vaccination in Italy: the vaccination campaign in the Ligurian Republic between the end of the Ancien Régime and the advent of the Napoleonic period (1797-1805).Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2026Article
- An Evolutionary Framework Exploiting Virologs and Their Host Origins to Inform Poxvirus Protein Functions.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Towards a Comprehensive Definition of Pandemics and Strategies for Prevention: A Historical Review and Future Perspectives.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Revisiting the origins of the Sobemovirus genus: A case for ancient origins of plant viruses.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Pandemic potential of poxviruses: From an ancient killer causing smallpox to the surge of monkeypox.Microbial biotechnology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Archaeovirology efforts provided a rich portrait of the evolutionary history of variola virus (VARV, the cause of smallpox), which was characterized by lineage extinctions and a relatively recent origin of the virus as a human pathogen (~1700 years ago, ya). This contrasts with historical records suggesting the presence of smallpox as early as 3500 ya. By performing an analysis of ancestry components in modern, historic, and ancient genomes, we unveil the progressive drifting of VARV lineages from a common ancestral population and we show that a small proportion of Viking Age ancestry persisted until the 18th century. After the split of the P-I and P-II lineages, the former experienced a severe bottleneck. With respect to the emergence of VARV as a human pathogen, we revise time estimates by accounting for the time-dependent rate phenomenon. We thus estimate that VARV emerged earlier than 3800 ya, supporting its presence in ancient societies, as pockmarked Egyptian mummies suggest.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.