Markus Ulrich

Robert Koch Institut | RKI · Project 3: P3 Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms

Characterizing trajectories of the composition and function of hominid gut microbiota across diverse environments and host species can help reveal specific properties of the human microbiota, with possible implications for host evolution and health. Using shotgun metagenomic sequencing, we investigated taxonomic and functional diversity in the gut...

Flies form high-density associations with human settlements and groups of nonhuman primates and are implicated in transmitting pathogens. We investigate the movement of nonhuman primate-associated flies across landscapes surrounding Kibale National Park, Uganda, using a mark-recapture experiment. Flies were marked in nine nonhuman primate groups at...

The human parasite Plasmodium malariae has relatives infecting African apes (Plasmodium rodhaini) and New World monkeys (Plasmodium brasilianum), but its origins remain unknown. Using a novel approach to characterise P. malariae-related sequences in wild and captive African apes, we found that this group comprises three distinct lineages, one of wh...

Humans are considered as the main host for Mycobacterium leprae1, the aetiological agent of leprosy, but spillover has occurred to other mammals that are now maintenance hosts, such as nine-banded armadillos and red squirrels2,3. Although naturally acquired leprosy has also been described in captive nonhuman primates4–7, the exact origins of infect...

Distinct SARS-CoV-2 lineages, discovered through various genomic surveillance initiatives, have emerged during the pandemic following unprecedented reductions in worldwide human mobility. We here describe a SARS-CoV-2 lineage - designated B.1.620 - discovered in Lithuania and carrying many mutations and deletions in the spike protein shared with wi...

Many high-income countries have met the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with overwhelming sequencing resources and have identified numerous distinct lineages, including some with notably altered biology. Over a year into the pandemic following unprecedented reductions in worldwide human mobility, distinct introduced lineages of SARS-CoV-2 without sequenced ant...

Humans are considered the main host for Mycobacterium leprae , the aetiologic agent of leprosy, but spill-over to other mammals such as nine-banded armadillos and red squirrels occurs. Although naturally acquired leprosy has also been described in captive nonhuman primates, the exact origins of infection remain unclear. Here, we report on leprosy-l...

Many non-human primate species in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue, the bacterium causing yaws in humans. In humans, yaws is often characterized by lesions of the extremities and face, while T. pal-lidum subsp. pallidum causes venereal syphilis and is typically characterized by primary lesions on the genital,...

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease on the rise across endemic habitats. Despite the growing importance of monkeypox virus, our knowledge on its host spectrum and sylvatic maintenance is limited. Here, we describe the recent repeated emergence of monkeypox virus in a wild, human-habituated western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus, hereafter chim...

Older origins of measles virus Animal domestication by humans is thought to have given many pathogens an opportunity to invade a new host, and measles is one example of this. However, there is controversy about when measles emerged in humans, because the historical descriptions of measles are relatively recent (late ninth century CE). The controver...

Many infectious diseases are thought to have emerged in humans after the Neolithic revolution. While it is broadly accepted that this also applies to measles, the exact date of emergence for this disease is controversial. Here, we sequenced the genome of a 1912 measles virus and used selection-aware molecular clock modeling to determine the diverge...

Background: Increasing evidence suggests many non-human primate (NHP) species in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue (TPE), the bacterium causing yaws in humans. In humans, yaws is characterized by lesions of the extremities and face, while Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA) causes venereal syphilis and is...

Despite their ubiquity, in most cases little is known about the impact of eukaryotic parasites on their mammalian hosts. Comparative approaches provide a powerful method to investigate the impact of parasites on host ecology and evolution, though two issues are critical for such efforts: controlling for variation in methods of identifying parasites...

New technologies enable viral discovery in a diversity of hosts, providing insights into viral evolution. We used one such approach, the virome capture sequencing for vertebrate viruses (VirCapSeq-VERT) platform, on 21 samples originating from six dead Maxwell's duikers (Philantomba maxwellii) from Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire. We detected the...

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##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: MEGA v. 5.1 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

During 2010-2011, we investigated interspecies transmission of partetraviruses between predators (humans and chimpanzees) and their prey (colobus monkeys) in Côte d'Ivoire. Despite widespread infection in all species investigated, no interspecies transmission could be detected by PCR and genome analysis. All sequences identified formed species- or...

Methods used and Sequence Info Used from the Public Database.

Data are missing on the diversity of Plasmodium spp. infecting apes that live in their natural habitat, with limited possibility of human-mosquito-ape exchange. We surveyed Plasmodium spp. diversity in wild chimpanzees living in an undisturbed tropical rainforest habitat and found 5 species: P. malariae, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. reichenowi, and P. ga...