Black Death bug identified from medieval bones

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20844-black-death-bug-identified-from-medieval-bones.html

The Black Death infamously wiped out about a third of Europe's population in the 14th century, but until now there was no firm evidence that bubonic plague was the cause.

Some researchers have suggested that the epidemic was caused by a virus such as Ebola, but an analysis of DNA from a London plague pit seems to settle the argument in favour of the "plague" bacterium Yersinia pestis.

Hendrik Poinar at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues developed a technique to look for Yersinia DNA in the bones of Black Death victims. The task was made tricky because of the possibility of contamination, Poinar says. "When we extract DNA from the skeletons, we also get DNA from their environment."

To pick out the signature of Y. pestis, Poinar's team took DNA from a modern strain and made a molecular "probe" that would bind to DNA from this type of bacterium. The team attached a magnetic chip to the probe and tested it on around 100 samples of teeth and bone excavated from a London plague pit.

More at the link --

[aquart]

1. Very cool.

[myrna minx]

2. K&R n/t

[frogmarch]

3. Thanks! What a

horrible way to die. I'm glad I live here and now. I will die some way or another, but probably not from the Black Death.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I love science

[stuntcat]

5. right on^ science!

I've read a lot about the Black Death but I don't know if I ever heard "plague pit" before!

They said the technique they used could find all kinds of old things :scared: (hope they never get the idea to use them as weapons)