Arizona State University expert directory

Anne Stone is an expert in the field of ancient DNA research, especially on the population history of the Americas. 

Her research lab focuses on three main themes: (1) Native American population history, (2) the evolutionary history of the Great Apes, and (3) understanding the co-evolutionary history of mycobacteria (specifically Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy, respectively) with human and non-human primates.

Stone's work has contributed greatly to understanding of how infectious diseases such as tuberculosis have evolved over time. She has used ancient DNA to understand the evolutionary history of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen which causes tuberculosis. Among her discoveries were that prehistoric Native American people were infected by a strain of M. tuberculosis transmitted by pinnipeds, such as seals, sometime between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago. This surprising discovery indicated that prehistoric Native Americans were infected by an animal strain of M. tuberculosis that rarely infects people today and which was later replaced by strains brought over by Europeans after the Age of Discovery.

Stone's work on tuberculosis allows us to understand the patterns of mutation responsible for allowing the bacterium to adapt to different hosts, which can provide insight into future drug design.

Stone was part of a team that showed it was possible to reconstruct complete human mitochondrial genomes from ancient human dental calculus, or tooth plaque. This finding opened up the possibility of using dental calculus as a source for studying ancient biomolecules from the host. Stone used these tools to show how strains of Mycobacterium leprae, the pathogen that causes leprosy, can be passed from humans to nonhuman primates and vice versa.