02380nas a2200673   4500000000100000008004100001260001600042653001100058653001300069653000900082653002500091653003100116653001100147653002100158653002200179653002600201653002600227653002100253653002200274653001100296653003800307653001200345653002600357653002500383653004400408653003600452653002400488653001600512653002700528100001200555700001300567700001400580700001200594700001400606700001400620700001000634700001500644700001400659700001600673700001300689700001400702700001400716700001000730700000900740700002100749700001300770700001200783700001200795700001500807700001500822700001100837245003000848856006100878300001100939490000800950050001500958520071900973022001401692       2005                            d  c2005 May 1310aAfrica10aAmericas10aAsia10aBiological Evolution10aEmigration and Immigration10aEurope10aGenes, Bacterial10aGenome, Bacterial10aHistory, 18th Century10aHistory, 19th Century10aHistory, Ancient10aHistory, Medieval10aHumans10aInterspersed Repetitive Sequences10aleprosy10aMinisatellite Repeats10aMycobacterium leprae10aOligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis10aPolymorphism, Single Nucleotide10aPopulation Dynamics10aPseudogenes10aSequence Analysis, DNA1 aMonot M1 aHonore N1 aGarnier T1 aAraoz R1 aCoppée J1 aLacroix C1 aSow S1 aSpencer JS1 aTruman RW1 aWilliams DL1 aGelber R1 aVirmond M1 aFlageul B1 aCho S1 aJi B1 aPaniz-Mondolfi A1 aConvit J1 aYoung S1 aFine PE1 aRasolofo V1 aBrennan PJ1 aCole S00aOn the origin of leprosy.  uhttp://science.sciencemag.org/content/308/5724/1040.full  a1040-20 v308  aMONOT 20053 a<p>Leprosy, a chronic human disease with potentially debilitating neurological consequences, results from infection with Mycobacterium leprae. This unculturable pathogen has undergone extensive reductive evolution, with half of its genome now occupied by pseudogenes. Using comparative genomics, we demonstrated that all extant cases of leprosy are attributable to a single clone whose dissemination worldwide can be retraced from analysis of very rare single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The disease seems to have originated in Eastern Africa or the Near East and spread with successive human migrations. Europeans or North Africans introduced leprosy into West Africa and the Americas within the past 500 years.</p>  a1095-9203