Archaeological excavations in St Margaretha

Simultaneous amplification of nine human short tandem repeat (STR) DNA sequences and the amelogenin locus allows reducing to an absolute minimum the amount of sample material that is necessary for genetic identification or kinship analysis. Valuable remains can be studied this way without any visible damage, as is demonstrated by typing the DNA of a tooth root from the Saxon warrior Widukind, who died about 1200 years ago. The broad applicability of the megaplex approach is shown by typing bone and teeth specimens ranging from a few months to 3000 years of age employing AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus. Additionally, megaplex STR typing is the method of choice for proving the authenticity of molecular results derived from ancient degraded DNA.

The adaptation to ancient DNA analysis of a Y-chromosomal STR (short tandem repeat) multiplex comprising the four STR systems DYS19, DYS390, and DYS389I/II shows the suitability of Y-chromosomal STR typing on ancient human remains. A new primer site for the system, DYS389I/II, resulting in products shortened by 94 bp, was chosen to serve the special needs of amplification of ancient DNA. For the first time, it was possible to amplify STR loci of the Y chromosome from historical and prehistorical bones of up to 3000 years old.

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