@article {Arora051037, author = {Natasha Arora and Verena J. Schuenemann and G{\"u}nter J{\"a}ger and Alexander Peltzer and Alexander Seitz and Alexander Herbig and Michal Strouhal and Linda Grillov{\'a} and Leonor S{\'a}nchez-Bus{\'o} and Denise K{\"u}hnert and Kirsten I. Bos and Leyla Rivero Davis and Lenka Mikalov{\'a} and Sylvia Bruisten and Peter Komericki and Patrick French and Paul R. Grant and Mar{\'\i}a A. Pando and Luc{\'\i}a Gallo Vaulet and Marcelo Rodr{\'\i}guez Fermepin and Antonio Martinez and Arturo Centurion Lara and Lorenzo Giacani and Steven J. Norris and David {\v S}majs and Philipp P. Bosshard and Fernando Gonz{\'a}lez-Candelas and Kay Nieselt and Johannes Krause and Homayoun C. Bagheri}, title = {Origin of modern syphilis and emergence of a contemporary pandemic cluster}, elocation-id = {051037}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.1101/051037}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Syphilis swept across the world in the 16th century as one of most prominent documented pandemics and is re-emerging worldwide despite the availability of effective antibiotics. Little is known about the genetic patterns in current infections or the evolutionary origins of the disease due to the non-cultivable and clonal nature of the causative bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum. In this study, we used DNA capture and next generation sequencing to obtain whole genome data from syphilis patient specimens and from treponemes propagated in laboratory settings. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the syphilis strains examined here share a common ancestor after the 15th century. Moreover, most contemporary strains are azithromycin resistant and members of a globally dominant cluster named here as SS14-Ω. This cluster diversified from a common ancestor in the mid-20th century and has the population genetic and epidemiological features indicative of the emergence of a pandemic strain cluster.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/04/29/051037}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/04/29/051037.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }