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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