S. Calvignac-Spencer

Phylogeographic analysis reveals an ancient East African origin of the human herpes simplexvirus 2 dispersal out-of-Africa.

This study uses phylogeographic analysis of HSV-2 genomes to determine its origin and dispersal out of Africa, finding an East African origin around 90-120 kya.

Archival influenza virus genomes from Europe reveal genomic and phenotypic variability during the 1918 pandemic

Primate phageomes are structured by superhost phylogeny and environment

The study examines primate phageomes across 23 wild non-human primate taxa, revealing phylosymbiotic patterns and social transmission of phages.

Leprosy in wild chimpanzees

The paper reports leprosy-like lesions in wild chimpanzees and identifies M. leprae strains with rare genotypes, suggesting multiple introductions from an unknown source.

African swine fever virus-like integrated elements in a soft tick genome - an ancient virus vector arms race?

The paper identifies ASFV-like integrated elements in soft tick genomes, suggesting an ancient co-evolutionary arms race between ticks and ASFV.

The history of measles: from a 1912 genome to an antique origin

The paper sequences a 1912 measles virus genome and uses molecular clock modeling to estimate measles virus divergence from rinderpest virus as early as the 4th century BCE.

Ancient recombination events between human herpes simplex viruses

This study identifies ancient recombination events between HSV-1 and HSV-2, revealing two HSV-2 lineages with distinct geographic distributions and recombination patterns.