Supporting data for "Genomic contextualisation of ancient DNA molecular data from an Argentinian fifth pandemic Vibrio cholerae infection"

Specific lineages of serogroup O1 <i>Vibrio cholerae </i>are notorious for causing cholera pandemics, of which there have been seven since the 1800s. Much is known about the sixth pandemic (1899-1923) and the ongoing seventh pandemic (1961-present), but we know very little about the bacteriology of pandemics 1 to 5. Moreover, although we are learning about the contribution of non-O1 non-pandemic <i>V. cholerae</i> to cholera dynamics during the current pandemic, we know almost nothing about their role in the past. A recent ancient DNA study has presented what may be the first molecular evidence of a <i>V. cholerae </i>infection from the fifth cholera pandemic period (1886-1887 AD) in Argentina. Here, we place the molecular evidence from that study into the genomic context of non-pandemic <i>V. cholerae</i> from Latin America and elsewhere, and show that a gene fragment amplified from ancient DNA is most similar to that of <i>V. cholerae</i> from the Americas, and from Argentina. Our results corroborate and reinforce the findings of the original study, and collectively suggest that even in the 1880s, non-pandemic <i>V. cholerae</i> local to the Americas may have caused sporadic infections in Argentina, just as we know to have happened during the seventh pandemic in Latin America.