Ancient DNA in medieval manuscripts reveals 3,700-year history of sheep pox virus

University College Dublin researchers discovered sheep pox virus DNA in historic European manuscripts, including the 1,000-year-old York Gospels. By sequencing parchment made from animal hides, they traced the highly contagious disease back at least 3,700 years. The virus caused devastating economic losses to livestock farming. Findings suggest capripoxviruses diverged between 11,500 and 3,700 years ago during sheep domestication.

Ancient genomes can help us understand how these pathogens affecting us today evolved. We find that unlike the smallpox virus, the sheep pox virus genome was very stable over the last few millennia.