| Genes reveal
recent origin for the plague
The genes of the
bacterium that causes bubonic plague reveal that the microbe arose
relatively recently from a less dangerous germ.
References:
Achtman, M. . .
. and E. Carniel. 1999. Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague,
is a recently emerged clone of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences 96(Nov. 23):14043 .
Sources:
Mark Achtman
Max-Planck-Institut for molekulare Genetik
Ihnestrasse 73
14195 Berlin
Germany
Elisabeth
Carniel
Institut Pasteur
Unité de Bactériologie Moléculaire et Médicale
Laboratoire des Yersinia
75724 Paris Cedex 15
France
Tom G. Schwan
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
Rocky Mountain Laboratories
903 South 4th Street
Hamilton, MT 59840
From Science
News, Vol. 156, No. 22, November 27, 1999, p. 343. Copyright ©
1999, Science Service. |