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- Title
Putative native South Amerindian origin of head lice clade F: evidence from head lice nits infesting human shrunken heads.
- Authors
Amanzougaghene, Nadia; Charlier, Philippe; Fenollar, Florence; Raoult, Didier; Mediannikov, Oleg
- Abstract
The head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis, is a strictly obligate human ectoparasite with a long history of association with humans. Here, 17 ancient head lice nits were recovered from six shrunken human heads (known as tsantsas) of individuals from the Shuar/Jivaro tribe, a native Amazonian population from Ecuador, South America. Cytochrome b DNA analysis revealed the presence of three known mitochondrial clades. Clade A was the most frequent (52.94%), followed by F (35.29%), and B (11.76%). Eleven haplotypes were found in 17 samples, and nine of the haplotypes were novel, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity. In conclusion, we confirmed the presence of clades A, B and F in South Amerindian population. Moreover, the description of clade F, together with its previous reports in another Amerindian population from French Guiana, strongly support the hypothesis of a native South American origin for this clade, and probably derived from clade B which was carried to America by an ancestral Eurasian Beringian population. Further support to our conclusion and new insights might come from the analysis of a larger collection of modern and ancient native American lice.
- Subjects
AMERICA; ECUADOR; FRENCH Guiana; LICE; CYTOCHROME b; DNA analysis; NATIVE Americans; GENETIC variation
- Publication
Scientific Reports, 2022, Vol 12, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2045-2322
- Publication type
Academic Journal
- DOI
10.1038/s41598-022-08176-2