A telomeric tale: 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus evolution

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• Dr Charlotte Houldcroft, Department of Genetics
• Tuesday 25 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Part II Lecture Theatre, Department of Zoology.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Henry North.

Human betaherpesviruses 6A and 6B are double-stranded DNA viruses carried by large fractions of the human population and integrate into the human genome, leading to a wide range of clinical manifestations such as angina and pre-eclampsia. Despite only being discovered in the 1980s, these viruses are speculated to have a much longer history within the human population than modern data make clear. In this talk, I will present the first nine full and two partial ancient genomes of HHV -6A and 6B, dating as far back as the Italian Iron Age. We demonstrate that large fractions of current HHV -6 diversity were already well established in the human population by the 14th century CE, and likely much earlier.

This talk is part of the Zoology Departmental Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Part II Lecture Theatre, Department of Zoology
• Zoology Departmental Seminar Series

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