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Time Travel with the Molecular Clock CULTURE & SOCIETY_Personal Portrait Time travel with the Molecular Clock Migration isn’t a new phenomenon, but new insights suggest that modern-day Europeans actually have at least three ancestral populations. This finding was published by Johannes Krause and his colleagues in September and was prominently featured on the cover of Nature. As it happens, the paleogeneticist himself is currently thinking about migrating, and will henceforth travel through time as a Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. For him, looking back millennia into the past seems to be no problem. TEXT CATARINA PIETSCHMANN he air is abuzz with chatter Almost two years have passed since Jo- from New Zealand who conducts, and clinking glasses. It’s a hannes Krause applied for a professor- among other things, linguistics research hot July afternoon in Tübing- ship in Kiel in connection with the MPI – would jointly set up the new institute. en and it seems like half the in Plön. “I wasn’t really suited for the It’s a future-oriented concept for town is out and about today position, to be honest.” And the twelve looking back into the past. It’s about –T in search of a table in the shade in Max Planck Directors who interviewed the history of mankind. About the evo- front of the historic, newly restored city him thought so, too. But then some of lution of language and of Homo sapiens, hall. Today, Johannes Krause decided to them asked him a question that took the anatomical modern human. They leave his institute, which is within walk- him by surprise: Since you’re already will apply their respective methods to ing distance, earlier than usual. If you here – could you see yourself setting up reconstruct – or disprove – the annals were to see him sitting here in the café a new institute for us? of human history. After all, linguistics – rebellious curls, gray T-shirt, boyish and genetics aren’t as different as they appearance, with a tangible enthusiasm A FUTURE-ORIENTED LOOK may seem at first glance. in his voice – you might easily mistake INTO THE PAST “Migration and merging are reflect- him for a college student in his senior ed not just in genetics, but also in lan- year, or at most a doctoral candidate. A What Krause didn’t know was that, at guage,” says Krause. “Russell Gray de- biologist, perhaps, or a philosopher. that time, the Max Planck Society was velops evolutionary trees of language The indolence of college life? That’s already planning to realign the MPI for families that show signs of merging as something the 34-year-old professor of Economics in Jena and was looking for well as splitting. This allowed him to archaeo- and paleogenetics at the Insti- a new Director. The members of the in- identify the time frame in which the In- tute for Archaeological Sciences doesn’t terview panel were aware of his excel- do-Germanic languages diversified.” have much time for. Especially now lent scientific career profile, which he While not a single word has been that he is about to leave for Jena to had built up under the guidance of his passed down to us from the prehistor- take on his position as one of the two mentor, Svante Pääbo, at the MPI for Evo- ic age, archaeologically proven migra- Founding Directors of the new Max lutionary Anthropology. And so it was tion patterns could serve as calibration Planck Institute for the Science of Hu- soon decided that he and Russell Gray – points. And since language (similar to man History. At the moment, Krause is a molecular biologist from Tübingen a genome) undergoes certain “muta- the youngest Max Planck Director – in- who focuses on the analysis of ancient tions” over time, models based on his- credible! How is this possible? DNA, and an evolutionary biologist torical, archaeological and linguistic Photo: Sven Döring 70 MaxPlanckResearch 4 | 14 The spiral shape suits the expert on ancient DNA: Johannes Krause on the way to the top – inside the institute’s old building in Jena. Free-flowing dialog: Johannes Krause (left) and his Director colleague from New Zealand, Russell Gray, an evolutionary biologist with a passion for linguistics, have already set their sights on a number of joint projects. facts can help compute the time periods ple is the Austronesian expansion. Gray in Tübingen. He teaches classical ar- in which languages are likely to have studies (linguistically) the settlement of chaeologists the foundations of genet- split. “Over the course of the past 1,000 Polynesia via Southeast Asia that oc- ics. To him, it comes as no surprise that to 2,000 years, there are several exam- curred 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. “As a this approach would work out well; af- ples of populations that merged but result of the colonization that took ter all, he spent many years of his sci- adopted the language of the new loca- place over the past 500 years, many ge- entific career at the Leipzig-based Max tion. By contrast, the colonization of netic patterns have been overwritten. Planck Institute for Evolutionary An- America resulted in the language of the That’s why we’re currently trying to re- thropology, which follows a similar in- indigenous people becoming complete- construct the early settlement process terdisciplinary approach. ly displaced,” Krause explains. They using very old human DNA samples Paleogenetics is a young scientific have met only a few times so far, yet taken from that region,” Krause ex- field that didn’t came about until the the scientist from Tübingen is already plains, outlining their first plans. 1980s. Only a small number of labora- enthusiastically incorporating the re- He himself is particularly interested tories worldwide have the equipment search findings of his soon-to-be col- in how modern humans spread out and experience to analyze DNA sam- league from the other side of the globe across Europe. “Did they come in waves ples taken from mummies or ancient into joint project ideas for the new in- because of the recurring ice ages? We skeletons. Even the process of merely stitute. He and Gray plan to tackle don’t know.” isolating DNA from ancient remains is many endeavors together. A third department is also planned highly complicated, as not every shard For example, the Migration Period for the institute. “Since Gray and I have of bone that is thousands of years old that began around 375 A.D., when the a very empirical approach to historical still contains usable genetic material. Huns invaded Eastern Central Europe, research, we need someone to conduct And if it does, the DNA is usually high- and lasted until the 6th century: What that research directly – a historian or an ly degraded and contaminated with the really happened? Archaeological finds archaeologist.” In fact, the underlying genetic traces of bacteria, fungi and from that era are typically rare and idea of the institute’s guiding concept plants that were flushed into the po- have often been subject to vague inter- marks the renaissance of a scientific rous material by rainwater. Later, ar- pretations. Who fled where and merged field: “More than 100 years ago, the chaeologists and museum employees with whom? Genes don’t lie. They can natural sciences and the humanities left traces of their own genetic materi- provide precise data even when all that drifted apart. Here in Jena, we want to al behind on the bone. “Five percent of historians and archaeologists can some- try to bring them back together.” That’s authentic human DNA – that would be times do is hypothesize. Another exam- precisely what Krause is already doing considered quite a substantial amount Photo: Sven Döring 72 MaxPlanckResearch 4 | 14 CULTURE & SOCIETY_Personal Portrait » The genome of the Neanderthal differs from that of modern-day humans by 0.1 percent. in an ancient bone sample,” Krause em- netic variation is shared between mod- evolution, Krause also focuses on his- phasizes. The result is usually just a tiny ern human populations. Genetically torical pathogens and their co-evolu- amount of DNA weighing no more speaking, every form of racism is an ab- tion with humans. Several years ago, he than a few nanograms – billionths of a solute joke. Human populations are used a small number of teeth that were gram. Today, in order to prevent the re- mostly the same. recovered from a London cemetery to searchers from leaving further traces be- reconstruct the genome of Yersinia pes- hind on the material samples, the DNA HITCHING A RIDE ACROSS tis: the pathogen of the Black Death isolation and sequencing preparations THE ATLANTIC that wiped out nearly half of Europe’s are conducted exclusively in clean- population back in the Middle Ages. rooms by staff members wearing sterile Teeth, incidentally, are the best source What traces were left behind in hu- protective clothing. of ancient DNA. As a kind of “time cap- man genes when our ancestors came “Ancient DNA is highly degraded. sule within a time capsule,” they often into contact with pathogens? Along The individual fragments are only about still contain dried blood and nerve cells which routes and with which host did 50 base pairs long, and at the ends of – and with a little bit of luck, even the the plague or the tuberculosis bacillus these fragments, cytosine has often genetic fingerprint of a nasty little travel around the globe? “Tuberculosis been chemically altered into uracil,” germ. The pathogens that cause lepro- already existed on the American conti- Krause explains.
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