Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Skeleton of King Richard III Identified



King Richard III has now become the oldest known individual to ever be identified through DNA. His remains had been unearthed two years ago, in a parking lot in Leicester, England. The archeologists who discovered the skeleton had claimed it to be the remains of King Richard III. This 15th century monarch had been known for stealing the throne, killing his nephews, and ruling for two years before dying in battle. Shakespeare even wrote a play about him. The skeleton showed many signs of being the king’s remains, including battle wounds, uneven shoulders and scoliosis. The parking lot was at the site of a ruined monastery where the king was rumored to have been buried at.



But now that the DNA analysis has been completed by a team of scientists led by University of Leicester geneticists Turi King, the remains are confirmed to be his. The researchers sifted through millions of ribbons of splintered DNA strands to create a DNA profile. They then compared it to the genetic profiles in over 20 generations of the dead king’s family tree, all the way up to his living descendants.

More specifically, the team used the skeleton’s mitochondrial DNA to trace the related female descendants/ancestors in the family tree, and the Y chromosome to trace the related male descendants/ancestors. The mitochondrial DNA was a rare variant to have in England. Furthermore, going through the male living descendants and seeing who shared the Y chromosome, they found that only 4 of the 5 shared the Y chromosome. This means that somewhere in the family tree, a female committed adultery.

I think this is very interesting and really impressive how they were able to identify such an old skeleton using DNA analysis, considering how difficult that process can be. It is also interesting that they even were able to identify adultery in the family. Considering the amount of inbreeding that goes on in royal families to keep the blood “pure”, that woman might have actually done the lineage a favor.

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