Editing Black Death (section)

====DNA evidence====
[[File:Bubonic plague victims-mass grave in Martigues, France 1720-1721.jpg|thumb|Skeletons in a mass grave from 1720 to 1721 in [[Martigues]], near [[Marseille]] in southern France, yielded molecular evidence of the ''orientalis'' strain of ''Yersinia pestis'', the organism responsible for bubonic plague. The second pandemic of bubonic plague was active in Europe from&nbsp;1347, the beginning of the Black Death, until 1750.]]

Definitive confirmation of the role of ''Y. pestis'' arrived in 2010 with a publication in ''[[PLOS Pathogens]]'' by Haensch et al.{{sfn|Haensch|Bianucci|Signoli|Rajerison|2010}}{{efn|In 1998, Drancourt et al. reported the detection of ''Y. pestis'' DNA in human dental pulp from a medieval grave.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Drancourt M, Aboudharam G, Signoli M, Dutour O, Raoult D | title = Detection of 400-year-old Yersinia pestis DNA in human dental pulp: an approach to the diagnosis of ancient septicemia | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 95 | issue = 21 | pages = 12637–12640 | date = October 1998 | pmid = 9770538 | pmc = 22883 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.95.21.12637 | bibcode = 1998PNAS...9512637D | doi-access = free  | issn=0027-8424}}</ref> Another team led by [[Marcus Thomas Pius Gilbert|Tom Gilbert]] cast doubt on this identification{{sfn|Gilbert|Cuccui|White|Lynnerup|2004}} and the techniques employed, stating that this method "does not allow us to confirm the identification of Y. pestis as the [[etiology|aetiological]] agent of the Black Death and subsequent plagues. In addition, the utility of the published tooth-based ancient DNA technique used to diagnose fatal [[bacteremia|bacteraemia]]s in historical epidemics still awaits independent corroboration".}} They assessed the presence of [[DNA]]/[[RNA]] with [[polymerase chain reaction]] (PCR) techniques for ''Y. pestis'' from the [[dental alveolus|tooth socket]]s in human skeletons from mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were associated archaeologically with the Black Death and subsequent resurgences. The authors concluded that this new research, together with prior analyses from the south of France and Germany, "ends the debate about the cause of the Black Death, and unambiguously demonstrates that ''Y. pestis'' was the [[disease causative agent|causative agent]] of the epidemic plague that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages".{{sfn|Haensch|Bianucci|Signoli|Rajerison|2010}} In 2011 these results were further confirmed with genetic evidence derived from Black Death victims in the [[East Smithfield]] burial site in England. Schuenemann et al. concluded in 2011 "that the Black Death in medieval Europe was caused by a variant of ''Y. pestis'' that may no longer exist".{{sfn|Bos|2011}}

Later in 2011, [[Kirsten Bos|Bos]] et al. reported in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' the first draft genome of ''Y. pestis'' from plague victims from the same East Smithfield cemetery and indicated that the strain that caused the Black Death is ancestral to most modern strains of ''Y. pestis''.{{sfn|Bos|2011}}

Later genomic papers have further confirmed the [[phylogenetics|phylogenetic]] placement of the ''Y. pestis'' strain responsible for the Black Death as both the ancestor{{sfn|Spyrou|Keller|Tukhbatova|Scheib|2019}} of later plague epidemics—including the [[third plague pandemic]]—and the descendant{{sfn|Wagner|Klunk|Harbeck|Devault|2014}} of the strain responsible for the [[Plague of Justinian]]. In addition, plague genomes from prehistory have been recovered.{{sfn|Rasmussen|Allentoft|Nielsen|Orlando|2015}}

DNA taken from 25 skeletons from 14th-century London showed that plague is a strain of ''Y. pestis'' almost identical to that which [[21st-century Madagascar plague outbreaks|hit Madagascar in 2013]].<ref name=guardian/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26770334|title=Black Death skeletons unearthed by Crossrail project| vauthors = Morgan J |date=30 March 2014|work=BBC News|access-date=20 August 2017|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225001808/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26770334|archive-date=25 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Further DNA evidence also proves the role of ''Y. pestis'' and traces the source to the [[Tian Shan]] mountains in [[Kyrgyzstan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/health/black-death-plague-source-identified-scn/index.html|publisher=CNN|last=Hunt|first=Katie|title=DNA analysis reveals source of Black Death|date=June 15, 2022|access-date=June 18, 2022|archive-date=18 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618150441/https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/health/black-death-plague-source-identified-scn/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>