A 5500-year-old Treponema pallidum genome from Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia

Science 2026 Open access

Read full text
Authors: Davide Bozzi, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Miguel Burbano Delgado, Jane E. Buikstra, Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim, Kalina Kassadjikova, Melissa Pratt Estrada, Gilbert Greub, Nicolás Rascovan, David Šmajs, Lars Fehren‐Schmitz, Anna‐Sapfo Malaspinas
+1 more Elizabeth A. Nelson
DOI: 10.1126/science.adw3020
Cited by: 5
References: 96

Abstract

Treponematosis, a bacterial infection caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies and T. carateum (yaws, bejel, syphilis, pinta), has afflicted humans for millennia. Despite paleopathological evidence and emerging genomic data, little is known about the evolutionary history of these pathogens. We report a 5500-year-old Treponema genome (TE1-3) from Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer contexts of the rock shelter Tequendama I in Colombia. Our analyses place TE1-3 as a sister lineage to all known T. pallidum subspecies, positioning this pathogen in the Americas millennia before European contact and before diversification of the subspecies causing syphilis, yaws, and bejel. This discovery broadens the known diversity of T. pallidum while extending the genomic record of treponemal pathogens by millennia, providing molecular support for a deep history of T. pallidum in the Americas.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies Forensic and Genetic Research

Publication details

Journal / source
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
391
Issue
6783
Pages
eadw3020–eadw3020
Publication date
22 January 2026
Language
EN