Putative native South Amerindian origin of head lice clade F: evidence from head lice nits infesting human shrunken heads

Nadia Amanzougaghene (1, 2) , Philippe Charlier (3, 4) , Florence Fenollar (2, 5) , Didier Raoult (1, 2) , Oleg Mediannikov (1, 2)

1 MEPHI - Microbes évolution phylogénie et infections
2 IHU Marseille - Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection
3 LAAB - Laboratoire Anthropologie, Archéologie, Biologie
4 MQBJC - Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
5 VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes

The head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis , is a strictly obligate human ectoparasite with a long history of association with humans. Here, 17 ancient head lice nits were recovered from six shrunken human heads (known as tsantsas ) of individuals from the Shuar/Jivaro tribe, a native Amazonian population from Ecuador, South America. Cytochrome b DNA analysis revealed the presence of three known mitochondrial clades. Clade A was the most frequent (52.94%), followed by F (35.29%), and B (11.76%). Eleven haplotypes were found in 17 samples, and nine of the haplotypes were novel, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity. In conclusion, we confirmed the presence of clades A, B and F in South Amerindian population. Moreover, the description of clade F, together with its previous reports in another Amerindian population from French Guiana, strongly support the hypothesis of a native South American origin for this clade, and probably derived from clade B which was carried to America by an ancestral Eurasian Beringian population. Further support to our conclusion and new insights might come from the analysis of a larger collection of modern and ancient native American lice.

Keywords: Molecular evolution; Phylogenetics

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Bacteriology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Parasitology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Cardiology and cardiovascular system; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Emerging diseases; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Infectious diseases

Nadia Amanzougaghene, Philippe Charlier, Florence Fenollar, Didier Raoult, Oleg Mediannikov. Putative native South Amerindian origin of head lice clade F: evidence from head lice nits infesting human shrunken heads. Scientific Reports, 2022, 12 (1), pp.4307. ⟨10.1038/s41598-022-08176-2⟩. ⟨hal-03663807⟩