Fredagskollokvium: Recent work on the plague eco-evolutionary system: extending our work form Central Asia to Caucus and China

I will summarize some of the work done out of CEES on the plague system of the Pre-Balkhash area in Kazakhstan (the surveillance data). Following this summary presentation I will present resent analysis on how the plague in Europe during the medieval ages may be understood as a result of Central Asian plague epidemics and with climate as a key driver. I will furthermore summarize some of the work done out of CEES on long-term data on plague (as observed in humans) in China. I will also present what we currently are doing in Xinxiang, north-eastern China (together with Ruifu Yang, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology) aiming at better understanding the genetic basis for innate immunity in in great gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) to Yersinia pestis. At our study site, there are two different great gerbils populations where innate resistance differs by 7-8 orders of magnitude. I will close with some reflections on plague systems in Caucuses (Georgia and Azerbaijan) where we currently are involved in a genomics study.