The origin and evolution of the infectious disease tuberculosis (TB) and its pathogens is still not
fully understood. An important effort for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms
of TB evolution lies within the investigation of skeletal and mummified material dating back
several thousand of years. In this work, molecular data from mummified and skeletal material
from different time periods of the Old World are compared, and the current status of ancient
mycobacterial DNA analysis in ancient human remains is discussed, with particular reference
to the genetic evolution of human TB. The molecular analysis of material from southern
Germany (1400–1800 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD) and Egypt (3500–500 BC) revealed high
frequencies of TB in all time periods. In several individuals from ancient Egypt the mycobacterial
DNA could be further characterised by spoligotyping. Thereby, evidence for
ancestral M. tuberculosis strains was found in the pre- to early dynastic material from Abydos
(3500–2650 BC), while typical M. africanum signatures were detected in the Middle Kingdom
tomb in Thebes-West (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period tombs
(1500–500 BC) were characterised as modern M. tuberculosis strains. In concordance with
other studies on ancient skeletal and mummified samples, no evidence for the presence of
M. bovis was found. These results contradict the theory that M. tuberculosis evolved from
M. bovis during domestication, but supports the new scenario that M. tuberculosis probably
derived from an ancestral progenitor strain