What Really Killed the Famous Composer Beethoven?

 Recent discoveries involving DNA samples from Beethoven, a famous composer in the 19th century, have shown was his cause of death may have actually been. Before any research was conducted it was believed that he had passed from liver failure. Though, a lock of his hair revealed to scientists that he carried several risk factors for liver disease. The locks of hair collected were used to reconstruct Beethoven's genome. This revealed a variant of the gene PNPLA3 which is linked to liver failure. Scientists also discovered hepatitis B in his genome. Hepatitis B can also severely affect the liver. After these findings and having the prior knowledge of Beethoven's drinking habits, it was concluded that liver failure was his cause of death.

    It is insanely impressive that scientists can recreate a genome from someone who lived over 200 years ago. The ability to recreate genome sequences such as the scientists did in this case is a big stepping stone for understanding life, medical research, drug development, and evolutionary studies. It will be interesting to see how researchers use this technology as time progresses and what will come of it.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/beethoven-hair-dna-composer-death

https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/pnpla3/

Beethoven: What Truly Caused His Death?

  Just imagine being able to go back in time and meeting any of your favorite idols. Unfortunately, this is not possible, but we can learn a lot about them in various ways, especially with surviving samples of their DNA. The well-renown German composer, Ludwig Van Beethoven, had multiple locks of his hair (some samples shown to be inauthentic or inconclusive) passed down from generation to generation. Tristen Begg and other researchers from the University of Cambridge (starting in 2014) analyzed the authentic samples to better understand the factors behind his death (known to be plagued by various health problems throughout his lifetime). After reconstructing Beethoven's genome, the research team was able to not only find a gene variant (PNPLA3) which increases the risks of liver disease but also traces of Hepatitis B (further increasing his susceptibility to infection).

  With all the evidence provided, it's logical to assume this is how he died. Especially, considering the fact nearing his death, he was a heavy drinker which would have caused additional damage unto his liver. Yet, what if the hair provided was not from Beethoven? It was found that the Y-chromosome in the samples were inconsistent with living relatives of an ancestor of Beethoven. Does that mean all that work was meaningless? Not exactly. As shown from within the article, one of Beethoven's ancestor's (paternal side) may have had a child outside of marriage. It's a plausible presumption and could further build onto what we know about his ancestry. If we had more DNA samples from famous figures in the past, imagine how much further we could delve into the unknowns of history.

Links

- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/beethoven-hair-dna-composer-death

- https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00181-1