Historic Treponema pallidum genomes from Colonial Mexico

Treponema pallidum infections occur worldwide causing, among other diseases, syphilis and yaws. In particular venereal syphilis is regarded as a remerging infectious disease with millions of new infections annually. Here we present three historic T. pallidum genomes (T. pallidum ssp. pallidum and T. pallidum ssp. pertenue) that have been reconstructed from skeletons recovered from the Convent of St. Isabel in Mexico City between the 17th and 19th century. Our analyses suggest that different T. pallidum subspecies were able to cause a form of congenital treponematosis, including T. pallidum ssp. pertenue, the causative agent of yaws. The first identification of historic T. pallidum genomes opens the possibility of directly studying the evolutionary history of one of the most feared diseases in human history.