Black Death genetic code cracked in new study

A team of scientists from Canada, Germany, and the US has decoded the Black Death's genetic code from teeth that were found in graves dating from the time the plague hit Europe.

Working in high biosecurity laboratories, those scientists are looking to see whether changing the code of modern day Yersinia strains to include those substitutions would ramp up the virulence of the bacteria. They are doing the work in chemical assays, not animals.

As required by the rules of scientific publishing, Poinar's team will put the sequence for the ancient Yersinia bacteria into Genbank, an open access database.

He acknowledges that will likely cause alarm in some quarters. "I think it makes some people nervous," he said. "(But) science has to move forward and we need to know if these are indeed changes and could these changes account for the increased virulence and can we control for that virulence today."

Of course it will cause alarm in some quarters! This will only add to the list of potential dangerous experiments going on around the world. Nothing is forever secured, and this, like many other things, is like a ticking bomb.

Aside from that, it's still a scientific accomplishment.

"It's very cool," said Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, the American scientist who led the effort to find and sequence the virus responsible for the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the only previous time a pathogen of old has been decoded. To have gone from tiny fragments of DNA to the completed genome is "an extraordinary technical advance," said Taubenberger, who runs a lab at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md.

"Even up to a year ago it was basically a pipe dream to get this level of genomic information," he said in a telephone interview.

I wonder how one feels, knowing one's work is bringing back to life old, dangerous and lethal life forms?

Black Death article.
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Here is another article, with a video. It says the changes in the bacteria is in the order of only a dozen, when compared with its modern version. So the reason they say it is not dangerous anymore is because we have evolved and our living conditions have changed.

Not for the whole world, it hasn't. Think of Africa, where many could be decimated by this...

In devastating the population, it changed the human immune system, basically wiping out people who couldn't deal with the disease and leaving the stronger to survive, said study co-author Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University in Ontario.

One can only hope it holds true to this day, but...

People still get the disease, usually from fleas from rodents or other animals, but not that often. There are around 2,000 cases a year in the world, mostly in rural areas, with a handful of them popping up in remote parts of the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In other words, we have changed, but some people still are not resistant to it, and that is in rural or remote environment we can see it. But with the medical systems collapsing like everything else, everywhere, how long before it hits a densely populated area?

WE have changed

Hm. Really?

reply to post by NowanKenubi


I did a thread on this too in the breaking news first when I heard about it. Yours is way better though
You put way more effort in yours than I did in mine.

I have heard a lot of people downplaying this research. I know the chances are low, but there is a chance this can backfire on the "all knowing scientists" who never make mistakes

I remember saying WTH when it became public of them digging up the dead plague bodies. I hope your thread gets the attention it deserves, star and flag.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Oh! Sorry! I did a search and couldn't find anything about it! I knew the articles were a few days old, but sometimes I see articles here weeks after I've seen them...

But thanks for the kind words!

I also don't like the idea of downplaying this. There are too many uncontrollable variables to tempt fate like this.

I went WTH too.

reply to post by NowanKenubi


No need to apologize. I believe terms and conditions allow a story that is first posted in breaking news to be posted into a different forum at a later time. Usually the second thread is better than the breaking news thread because of more details.

This reminded me of Stephen King's "The Stand". I would hate for something nasty like that to break out.

reply to post by NowanKenubi


RE:

In devastating the population, it changed the human immune system, basically wiping out people who couldn't deal with the disease and leaving the stronger to survive, said study co-author Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University in Ontario.

This statement is so narrow, dogmatic, culture-bound and downright inaccurate it's a major PO. This guy totally misses the point - ...it has always been accepted that folded protein, not the gene, directly transmits inherited information into biological activity.

…..in the early 1960s, Christian Anfinsen showed that the proteins actually tie themselves: If proteins become un-folded, they fold back into proper shape of their own accord; no shaper or folder is needed. …..Anfinsen’s investigation of what some call ‘the second genetic code’….

As Susan Lindquist says,

….the protein-folding problem isn’t always a problem. The very same types of misfoldings that cause dreadful diseases in some circumstances can have beneficial effects in others. The protein-folding problem is as ancient as life itself; it makes sense that evolution would occasionally, perhaps even often, use it to advantage.

PRIONS are the mechanism that changes the immune system - and DNA. More importantly, it really looks like prions are the primary mechanism for "evolution."

Which means 'evolution' has to do with protein exposure, responsive adaptation and mutation - NOT "strength" or "survival of the fittest."

Worse, these fools are modifying the plague proteins just by experimenting on them - guaranteed to produce new, disastrous strains. And they don't even know what they're doing. ...."Genetics" is meaningless without being contingent on proteomics studies.

reply to post by soficrow


Thanks! I am going to read your links! I didn't know about a second DNA! Even less about the folding of proteins, and what it means.

I'm going to learn much today!

reply to post by soficrow


I want to know if I understand well the folding of proteins, and the effects it can have...

When reading about the example of the boiled egg it made me think of the eye problem known as cataracts.

I've learned that the eyes are transparent because the cells are misaligned and when cataracts happen, it is because the cells realign themselves. Could it be related to the folding and unfolding of proteins?

Thanks!

In devastating the population, it changed the human immune system, basically wiping out people who couldn't deal with the disease and leaving the stronger to survive, said study co-author Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University in Ontario.

One can only hope it holds true to this day, but...

People still get the disease, usually from fleas from rodents or other animals, but not that often. There are around 2,000 cases a year in the world, mostly in rural areas, with a handful of them popping up in remote parts of the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In other words, we have changed, but some people still are not resistant to it, and that is in rural or remote environment we can see it. But with the medical systems collapsing like everything else, everywhere, how long before it hits a densely populated area?

WE have changed

Hm. Really?



Hi OP,



Thanks for bringing my attention to this article. I had missed the previous thread.

S&F.

I have heard that there has been a severe outbreak of bed bugs hitting the US over the last couple of years. Apparently the infestations may be coming in through imports of clothing and furniture from poorer countries/cheap labour. Scary stuff.

BUMP.

reply to post by maya27


Thanks! I missed the original thread, too.

As for bugs coming from poor countries, we were receiving shipments from India and you should have seen the bugs that were coming out of the boxes! Some were very scared and called the government, who came to shut down the place, to see if it was dangerous or not.

Of course, it wasn't... Still, what kind of micro organisms can they transport with them?

Since you guys brought up bed bugs and disease, you might find this article interesting:

Bedbugs carry drug-resistant MRSA bacteria, but could only spread it in some situations

The source is not the original source I heard it from, but it was the first mainstream one that popped up on my Google search. I am not sure if this is of concern but the area that the study was done in is plagued with disease due to intravenous drug use and other forms of moral decay that come with this lifestyle such as prostitution. The rate of tuberculosis and other rare but dangerous diseases are very high in this area. The recent increase of bed bugs in these populated areas would be a means of diseases such as the plague to spread. Even the scientists in the study admitted it is possible.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Can you imagine how formidable a weapon this could be? Infect carrier insects with the Black Death ( or any other lethal sickness ) and release it on any population you desire to see reduced.

It would look natural, etc.

Thanks for the link. Will have a look later.

It is quite scary when you think about the over prescribing of antibiotics, and the fact that wholesome and nutritional food is hard to come by these days. Western lifestyle is not a healthy one.

I think people need to re-educate themselves. Try to eat a proper nutritius diet, and try to avoid prescription meds where possible. Exercise more. Added to that, the fact that most are stressed on a daily basis, which further depletes our immune systems.

reply to post by maya27


Yes, its strange, about antibiotics. On one side, we are told that we should not take them lightly, and on the other hand, you have doctors distributing them as if they were candies.

One of my sons was prescribed 7 antibiotics last winter, and none were necessary. It makes me wonder about the seriousness of some medical professionals... We are now told, sometimes, by doctors, that they don't know what the problem is, so, here you go, antibiotics...

reply to post by NowanKenubi

...made me think of the eye problem known as cataracts.

I've learned that the eyes are transparent because the cells are misaligned and when cataracts happen, it is because the cells realign themselves. Could it be related to the folding and unfolding of proteins?

As I recall, yes. A classic example.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Gaahhhh!!!

"only spread it under certain circumstances" - famous last words, imho. MRSA is now community acquired - sounds like bedbugs just might be a common vector.