TWiM explains a study that examines pathogen presence in ancient humans and concludes that zoonoses emerged 6500 years ago with the domestication of livestock, and determination of universal rules that govern plasmid copy number.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

Guests: Mark O. Martin

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode:

• Human pathogens in ancient Eurasia (Nature)

• What once ailed us (NY Times)

• Rules of plasmid copy number (Nature Comm)

• Scaling laws of plasmids (Nature Comm)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv