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The Romanovs: Crown. Curse. Cellar.Episode 101:37
The Royal Relative Hidden in the DNA
Scientists use a living prince and a family pattern inside nine skeletons to test whether the Ural grave contains Russia's last rulers.
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Transcript
Tsarina's mitochondrial DNA matched Prince Philip in hypervariable regions one and two.
In 1991, nine sets of skeletal remains were excavated from a mass grave near Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Russian authorities commissioned Pavel Ivanov and Peter Gill to test the remains.
Erica Hagelberg was invited to replicate the findings.
Nuclear DNA showed that the nine skeletons formed a family group.
The comparison followed the maternal line.
The tsarina was Alexandra; Prince Philip was her living maternal-line reference.
The results supported identifying the remains as the Romanov family.
Romanov ID was an important breakthrough in DNA testing of compromised skeletal remains.
At position 16,169, Georgij's mtDNA heteroplasmy matched Nicholas II's remains.
His matching heteroplasmy supported identifying the remains as Nicholas II.
The Romanovs briefly returned as a family pattern, not a legend.
Maria, a Romanov child whose remains were missing from the first grave, once told her tutor: I would happily stay in Tobolsk forever.
In 2007, a second grave yielded bones and teeth from two young people.
New mitochondrial, autosomal, Y-chromosome tests identified Alexei and one sister.
Nicholas II's femur carried an unusual C/T heteroplasmy at position 16,169—and critics argued it could undermine the identification.
Re-analysis confirmed the initial DNA testing, ending the mystery.
The identification drew critics. The Russian Orthodox Church rejected it in 1998.
The presumed tsar, a family-group member, had femur DNA with C and T heteroplasmy at 16,169.
The unusual mixture left the identification open to criticism.
Where it leaves off
Nicholas II's femur carried an unusual C/T heteroplasmy at position 16,169—and critics argued it could undermine the identification.
Next: Episode 11, The Single Letter That Threatened the Case
Sources
- The identification of the Romanovs: Can we (finally) put the controversies to rest? - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Mystery Solved: The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Mitochondrial DNA sequence heteroplasmy in the Grand Duke of Russia Georgij Romanov establishes the authenticity of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II - Penn Statepure.psu.edusecondary
- Nicholas and Alexandra (February 5, 1996) - Library of Congress Information Bulletinloc.govsecondary
- Mystery solved: the identification of the two missing Romanov children using DNA analysis - PubMedpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
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