% pubman genre = article @article{item_3379854, title = {{Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history}}, author = {Yu, He and Jamieson, Alexandra and Hulme-Beaman, Ardern and Conroy, Chris J. and Knight, Becky and Speller, Camilla and Al-Jarah, Hiba and Eager, Heidi and Trinks, Alexandra and Adikari, Gamini and Baron, Henriette and B{\"o}hlendorf-Arslan, Beate and Bohingamuwa, Wijerathne and Crowther, Alison and Cucchi, Thomas and Esser, Kinie and Fleisher, Jeffrey and Gidney, Louisa and Gladilina, Elena and Gol{\textquoteright}din, Pavel and Goodman, Steven M. and Hamilton-Dyer, Sheila and Helm, Richard and Hillman, Jesse C. and Kallala, Nabil and Kivikero, Hanna and Kov{\'a}cs, Zs{\'o}fia E. and Kunst, G{\"u}nther Karl and Kysel{\'y}, Ren{\'e} and Linderholm, Anna and Maraoui-Telmini, Bouthe{\'{}}ina and Markovi{\'c}, Nemanja and Morales-Mu{\~n}iz, Arturo and Nabais, Mariana and O{\textquoteright}Connor, Terry and Oueslati, Tarek and Quintana Morales, Er{\'e}ndira M. and Pasda, Kerstin and Perera, Jude and Perera, Nimal and Radbauer, Silvia and Ramon, Joan and Rannam{\"a}e, Eve and Sanmart{\'\i} Grego, Joan and Treasure, Edward and Valenzuela-Lamas, Silvia and van der Jagt, Inge and Van Neer, Wim and Vigne, Jean-Denis and Walker, Thomas and Wynne-Jones, Stephanie and Zeiler, J{\o}rn and Dobney, Keith and Boivin, Nicole and Searle, Jeremy B. and Krause-Kyora, Ben and Krause, Johannes and Larson, Greger and Orton, David}, language = {eng}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z}, year = {2022}, abstract = {{The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association{\textless}br{\textgreater}with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe,{\textless}br{\textgreater}however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during{\textless}br{\textgreater}the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of{\textless}br{\textgreater}European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat. We then{\textless}br{\textgreater}sequence 67 ancient and three modern black rat mitogenomes, and 36 ancient and three{\textless}br{\textgreater}modern nuclear genomes from archaeological sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in{\textless}br{\textgreater}Europe and North Africa. Analyses of our newly reported sequences, together with published{\textless}br{\textgreater}mitochondrial DNA sequences, confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterra-{\textless}br{\textgreater}nean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a{\textless}br{\textgreater}population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident{\textless}br{\textgreater}with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance{\textless}br{\textgreater}and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the{\textless}br{\textgreater}Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.}}, journal = {{Nature Communications}}, volume = {13}, eid = {2399}, }