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Network analysis of the hominin origin of Herpes Simplex virus 2 from fossil data

S. Underdown,Krishna Kumar,C. Houldcroft

Published 2017 in bioRxiv

ABSTRACT

Herpes simplex virus 2 is a human herpesvirus found worldwide that causes genital lesions and more rarely causes encephalitis. This pathogen is most common in Africa, and particularly in central and east Africa, an area of particular significance for the evolution of modern humans. Unlike HSV1, HSV2 has not simply co-speciated with humans from their last common ancestor with primates. HSV2 jumped the species barrier between 1.4 and 3 MYA, most likely through an intermediate but unknown hominin species. In this paper, we use probability-based network analysis to determine the probable path between intermediate hosts of HSV2, from chimpanzees to modern humans, using paleoenvironmental data on the distribution of African tropical rainforest over the last 3 million years and data on the age and distribution of fossil species of hominin present in Africa between 1.4 and 3 MYA. Our model identifies Homo rudolfensis as the most likely intermediate host of HSV2

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