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Journal Articles Nature Communications Year : 2022

Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history

Chris Conroy
Becky Knight
  • Function : Author
Camilla Speller
  • Function : Author
Hiba Al-Jarah
  • Function : Author
Heidi Eager
  • Function : Author
Alexandra Trinks
  • Function : Author
Gamini Adikari
  • Function : Author
Henriette Baron
  • Function : Author
Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan
  • Function : Author
Wijerathne Bohingamuwa
Kinie Esser
  • Function : Author
Jeffrey Fleisher
Louisa Gidney
  • Function : Author
Elena Gladilina
  • Function : Author
Pavel Gol’din
Sheila Hamilton-Dyer
  • Function : Author
Richard Helm
Jesse Hillman
  • Function : Author
Nabil Kallala
  • Function : Author
Hanna Kivikero
  • Function : Author
Zsófia Kovács
  • Function : Author
Günther Karl Kunst
  • Function : Author
René Kyselý
Anna Linderholm
Bouthéina Maraoui-Telmini
  • Function : Author
Nemanja Marković
Arturo Morales-Muñiz
  • Function : Author
Mariana Nabais
Terry O’connor
  • Function : Author
Eréndira Quintana Morales
Kerstin Pasda
Jude Perera
  • Function : Author
Nimal Perera
  • Function : Author
Silvia Radbauer
  • Function : Author
Joan Ramon
  • Function : Author
Eve Rannamäe
Joan Sanmartí Grego
  • Function : Author
Edward Treasure
  • Function : Author
Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas
Inge van der Jagt
  • Function : Author
Wim van Neer
Thomas Walker
  • Function : Author
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
Jørn Zeiler
  • Function : Author
Keith Dobney
Nicole Boivin
Jeremy Searle
Ben Krause-Kyora
Johannes Krause
Greger Larson
David Orton

Abstract

The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.
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Dates and versions

hal-03659617 , version 1 (24-11-2022)

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He Yu, Alexandra Jamieson, Ardern Hulme-Beaman, Chris Conroy, Becky Knight, et al.. Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history. Nature Communications, 2022, 13 (1), pp.2399. ⟨10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z⟩. ⟨hal-03659617⟩
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