Hansen's Disease in Ancient DNA Samples - Essay Example

?Hansen's Disease in Ancient DNA Samples Hansen's disease or Leprosy is one of the worst epidemics which created major health problems in the world even during ancient periods. It is still prevailing in some parts of the world even though majority of the countries successfully blocked the spreading this disease. One of the major problems associated with leprosy is the fact that this disease have the ability to destroy the beauty of a person cause huge physical and psychological pains in the minds of the victims. “From ancient time leprosy has been regarded as a terrifying, stigmatized disease; nevertheless, its cause remained unidentified up to the late 19th century”(Azizi &Bahadori, p.425). Mycobacterium leprae, the etiological agent of leprosy was identified by G. H. A. Hansen in the 19th century and therefore leprosy is also called as Hansen's Disease (Alter et al., p.19). “It is transmitted through mucous secretions of diseased individual. The symptoms of the disease includes hypopigmented lesions enlarged peripheral nerves and skin anesthesia”(Piris et al., p.125) “Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy, remains an important public health problem throughout the world. The causative microbe in Hansen's disease is Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast organism that is difficult to grow in vitro” (Legendre et al., p.27). Hansen's disease is one of the oldest diseases reported in the history. Holy Bible, both New Testaments and Old Testaments, say many incidents related to the leprosy patients. As in the case of AIDS or HIV, it is difficult to predict how leprosy evolved in this world. Medical scientists are currently analyzing ancient DNA samples to find out more details about the origin of Hansen's disease. Anuja et al (2011) pointed out that “tissue changes in oral tissues do happen in some cases of leprosy and the causative organism Mycobacterium leprae can be demonstrated” (Anuja et al., p. 31). In other words, the contribution of Mycobacterium leprae in causing leprosy is proved beyond doubt by different studies. However, the details about how Mycobacterium leprae evolved in this world is still unknown and more researches are necessary to find out the details about its evolution. This paper analyses the available literatures to know more about Hansen's Disease in Ancient DNA Samples. DNA is the molecule that contains the genetic information needed for a living organism to develop and function. When an organism dies the DNA molecules start to degrade, breaking up into shorter strands. These fragments are sections (?sequences?) of the original DNA and can be used in ancient DNA comparisons and identifications (Elderset al., p.2). “Ancient DNA studies allowed us to study organisms that went extinct more than ten thousand years ago, to reconstruct their phenotypic traits and evolution” (Grigorenko et al.). According to Mitchel et al., (2005), “Ancient DNA contains information pertinent to numerous fields of study including evolution, population genetics, ecology, climatology, medicine, archeology, and behavior” (Mitchel et al., p.265). However, it is extremely difficult to collect such DNA’s because of the inability of it to survive longer periods. Taking DNA’s from archaeological human remains will help the medical science immensely in getting more details about leprosy. But, it is extremely difficult to detect DNA remnants in Human skeleton collected from countries in which hot and humid conditions exist. For example, it is difficult to collect suitable DNA samples from human skeletons found in Asian countries because of the comparatively hot climate exists in this part of the world. An integral aspect of any ancient DNA (aDNA) work is to deal with inevitably aged and degraded specimens, most commonly bones or teeth. Despite countless samples being available, only few are suitable for aDNA studies as little or no DNA has survived over time. In the attempt to facilitate the identification of samples with adequate DNA preservation, indirect measures of preservation have been established, under the assumption that these parameters correlate with degradation processes to which DNA is subjected during digenesis (Carsten et al., p.3215). Wilker et al. (2011) pointed out that “Leprosy is an ancient disease and the focus of the researchers'' scrutiny for more than a century. However, many of the molecular aspects related to transmission, virulence, antigens and immune responses are far from known” (Wilker et al., p.1711). No country, even the most developed United States seems to be free from the threat of leprosy. About 150 new cases of leprosy reported annually in the United States(Worobec, p.518). “An increasing proportion of Hansen disease cases in the United States occurs among migrants from the Micronesian region, where leprosy prevalence is high”(Woodall et al., p.1202). Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. leprae, respectively, have recently been the subject of molecular genetics research. The new genome-level data for several mycobacterial species have informed extensive phylogenetic analyses that call into question previously accepted theories concerning the origins and antiquity of these diseases. Of special note is the fact that all new models are in broad agreement that leprosy disease originated at least 35,000 years ago and probably closer to 2.6 million years ago (Stone et al., p. 66). Even though the exact date of origin is still unknown, the above findings suggest that leprosy was one of the rarest diseases which evolved out along with the evolutions of human in this world. No other diseases were recorded in the history as old as leprosy. According to Patil et al (2011), “Mycobacterium leprae is closely related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is structurally analogous but functionally distinct from Mycobacterium tuberculosis RecA protein” (Patil et al., p.1802). Watson & Lockwood (2009) have conducted a comprehensive study on ancient DNA samples to get more information about Hansen's Disease. They used Skeletons from 3 European countries (the United Kingdom, Denmark and Croatia) and are dated around the medieval period (476 to 1350 A.D.). They analyzed the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 10 aDNA extractions. M. leprae aDNA was extracted from 6 of the 10 bone samples. Testing for the presence of SNPs in M. leprae DNA extracted from ancient bone samples led them towards the conclusion that the M. leprae genome is extremely stable and it can be analyzed to gain detailed information about the genotypic make-up of leprosy, which may assist in the understanding of leprosy transmission worldwide (Watson & Lockwood p.1). Suzuki et al. (2010) conducted a pilot study in Asia to know more details about leprosy, by making use of the DNA samples they collected from Japan. They have detected M. leprae DNA in archaeological skeletal remains for the first time in the Far East. Its SNP genotype corresponded to type 1; the first detected case worldwide of ancient M. leprae DNA” (Suzuki et al., p.1). Even though hot climatic conditions are unfavorable to M. leprae, Turankar et al (2012) found that “humidity may favor survival of M. leprae in the environment” (Turankar et al., p.121). In other words hot climatic conditions are unfavorable whereas humid climate conditions are favorable to the survival of M. leprae. It should be noted that hot and humid conditions are coexisting most of the times. In other words, the possibility of survival for M. leprae is fifty- fifty. Since Asia is historically hot region compared to other parts of the world, the probabilities of finding Mycobacterium leprae from skeletons collected from Asia could be less than that collected from other parts of the world. Michael & Donoghue (2011) used Molecular typing methods to find out the presence of Mycobacterium leprae in human skeletons collected from various parts of the world. They successfully identified strain variation in archaeological cases of lepromatous leprosy (Michael & Donoghue, p.923). A study conducted by Donoghue et al. (2005), on the skeletal materials collected from variety of sources such as Thunder Bay/Jerusalem, Israel and Egypt, yielded following results. Twenty-four out of the 32 samples examined contained amplifiable DNA for one or other of these pathogens, both of which were found at all six sites. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex-specific DNA was detected in 18 samples and M.leprae-specific DNA was found in 16 samples. Ten samples contained DNA from both organisms. The four sites with co-infected samples were from Roman Egypt, first century Palestine, tenth century Hungary and medieval Sweden. Results from different laboratories showed some slight discrepancies but each obtained evidence of co-infection (Donoghue et al., p.390-392). The above results clearly suggest that tuberculosis and leprosy were some of the major diseases in the past. Moreover, this study gives lime light towards the strong associations of tuberculosis and leprosy. It should be noted that both of these diseases are affected by Mycobacterium. In another study conducted by some prominent researchers, identified the presence of (Hansen's disease) and tuberculosis (TB) present in male remains found in a1st century ‘Tomb of the Shroud’ in Jerusalem. “Analysis of the ancient DNA showed both leprosy (Hansen's disease) and tuberculosis (TB) present in male remains found in a small-sealed off chamber within the tomb. “The‘Tomb of the Shroud’ dates from the time of Jesus and was discovered in Jerusalem in 2000 by an international archaeological team” (Oldest case of leprosy found in 1st century tomb). This is the oldest known case of leprosy with solid evidences so far in the history. To conclude, Leprosy is one of the worst diseases which originated along with the evolution of human in this world. No other diseases reported in the history as old as leprosy. Ancient DNA samples collected from various parts of the world give clear ideas about the prevalence of leprosy among ancient community. Works Cited 1. 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