Today, about 3.7 billion people across the globe are infected by the herpes virus, which typically causes lip sores. For the first time, a team of researchers led by University of Cambridge scientists have uncovered and sequenced the genome of the ancient herpes virus.
DNA Sequencing of Ancient Herpes Virus
The latest research suggests that what we know today as facial herpes caused by the HSV-1 virus strain first arose roughly 5,000 years ago, in the wake of the Bronze Age migration into Europe from the Eurasian Steppe grasslands, and is linked to a population boom that drove the virus rate transmissions, reports EurekAlert.
The study published in the journal Science Advances, titled "Ancient herpes simplex 1 genomes reveal recent viral structure in Eurasia," suggests the Neolithic flourishing of the virus that causes facial herpes detected in the ancient DNA coincides with the advent of new cultural practices imported from the east.
Dr. Charlotte Houldcroft, a co-author of the study from the Department of Genetics of the University of Cambridge, explains that the world has witnessed COVID-19 mutate rapidly over several weeks and months. Wherein a virus like herpes evolved in a grander timescale.
She adds that facial herpes hides in the life of its hosts and only transmits via oral contact. Hence, mutations commonly occur slowly over centuries and millennia. Houldcroft says that deep time investigation is needed to further understand how DNA viruses like herpes evolve.
Previous genetic data on the herpes virus only dates back to 1925.
Uncovering the Genomic and Cultural Origins of Ancient Herpes
Researchers traced ancient herpes strains in the remains of four individuals stretching over a thousand years. The team extracts viral DNA from the roots of the remains' teeth. Herpes commonly flares up with mouth infection: at least two ancient cadaver remains had gum diseases, and a third smoked tobacco.
The oldest sample retrieved belonged to an adult male unearthed in the Ural Mountains regions of Rusia, dating back roughly 1,500 years ago during the late Iron Age.
Dr. Meriam Guellil, the co-lead author from the Institute of Genomics of Tartu University, says that the team screened ancient DNA samples from roughly 3,000 archaeological finds and got four herpes hits.
By comparing the ancient herpes DNA samples with modern-day samples, scientists could analyze the differences and estimate the rate of mutation, which consequently provided an evolutionary timeline for the virus.
Dr. Christiana Scheib, a co-senior author and research fellow at St John's College, University of Cambridge, says every primate species has a type of herpes. Hence the team assumed it had been with our species since we left Africa. However, something occurred roughly 5,000 years ago that allowed a single strain of the virus to overtake all others, possibly increasing rates of transmission, which could have been linked to romance and kissing.
Two-thirds of the world's population under 50-years-of-age carry HSV-1. For most, the occasional lip sores are embarrassing and uncomfortable, but the virus can be fatal in combination with other ailments.
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