Remnants of TB genes can remain in and infect person’s bones for centuries. A team of UK researchers has been able to isolate such TB sequences through an old skeleton using new rapid DNA sequencing. The proof of concept exercise was performed using the remains of a young woman buried in the 1800s. DNA sequencing showed that her strain matched one that circulated in the US a century ago. That match was based on tissue samples collected from a TB patient in upstate New York in 1905. The finding is on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

Once older boned can be studied for this tale-tell genes, scientists might be able to get new insights into TB’s deadly moves and perhaps anticipate the/its next one.