Mitochondrial DNA analysis on remains of a putative son of Louis XVI, King of France and Marie-Antoinette

Jehaes, Els; Decorte, Ronny; Péneau, A.; Petrie, Johan H; Boiry, Philippe A; Gilissen, Anja; Moisan, Jean-Claude; Berghe, Herman Van den; Pascal, Olivier; Cassiman, Jean‐Jacques

doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200227

Cited by 36 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…According to Charlier et al, 24 the donor of the head belongs to mtDNA haplogroup U5b*. Our previous study of a series of living and deceased maternally related relatives of Louis XVII showed that the mtDNA haplogroup of the Habsburgs belonged to haplogroup H. 4,5 DISCUSSION Detailed Y-chr haplotypes and haplogroups were obtained for three living relatives of the House of Bourbon from which the French kings originated from 1589 (Henri IV became King of Navarre in 1572 by his mother's rights, and King of France in 1589 at the death of Henri III, as the eldest descendant of Louis IX (1214-1270)) till the end of the monarchy. Based on these results, it is clear that their genealogical common ancestor (GCA) based on the official genealogy, namely King Louis XIII, was also their biological ancestor.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Y-chromosomal analysis on the already identified heart of Louis XVII, the son of Louis XVI, 4 might further remove all doubts about the identification of the blood sample considered to be of Louis XVI and might also solve any controversy about the paternity of Louis XVI of this child. As was already stressed in earlier studies, 5 DNA typing of living relatives who are paternally or maternally related should be a requisite to solve historical cases with ancient DNA. This is an essential extra quality control for DNA contamination as well as a guarantee for a more objective identification, as illustrated here by this study of the Bourbon family.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…25,26 Their mtDNA was available from our previous investigations regarding Louis XVII. 4,5 The results of the Y-chr and mtDNA analysis will show that the published genetic identification of the presumptive blood sample of Louis XVI and the presumed head of Henry IV cannot be confirmed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The genetic approach was successful, for example, to check the verity of the death of the legendary outlaw Jesse James 3 or Louis XVII, the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, who died during the French Revolution. 4,5 It also gave certainty about remains found at the burrial place of the Romanov family members, 6,7 about the biological relationship within the family of Austria's patron Saint Leopold III 8 and about the reliability and commercial value of religious relics during the Middle Ages. 9,10 The main drawback of the genetic identification of presumptive remains from historical figures is that the DNA within these samples is often degraded and that DNA contamination can mask the original DNA of the person.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic genealogy reveals true Y haplogroup of House of Bourbon contradicting recent identification of the presumed remains of two French Kings

et al. 2013

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Genetic analysis strongly increases the opportunity to identify skeletal remains or other biological samples from historical figures. However, validation of this identification is essential and should be done by DNA typing of living relatives. Based on the similarity of a limited set of Y-STRs, a blood sample and a head were recently identified as those belonging respectively to King Louis XVI and his paternal ancestor King Henry IV. Here, we collected DNA samples from three living males of the House of Bourbon to validate the since then controversial identification of these remains. The three living relatives revealed the Bourbon's Y-chromosomal variant on a high phylogenetic resolution for several members of the lineage between Henry IV and Louis XVI. This 'true' Bourbon's variant is different from the published Y-STR profiles of the blood as well as of the head. The earlier identifications of these samples can therefore not be validated. Moreover, matrilineal genealogical data revealed that the published mtDNA sequence of the head was also different from the one of a series of relatives. This therefore leads to the conclusion that the analyzed samples were not from the French kings. Our study once again demonstrated that in order to realize an accurate genetic identification of historical remains DNA typing of living persons, who are paternally or maternally related with the presumed donor of the samples, is required.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Genetic genealogy reveals true Y haplogroup of House of Bourbon contradicting recent identification of the presumed remains of two French Kings

et al. 2013

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show abstract

“…Therefore, the analysis of polymorphisms located in the non-recombining region on the Y-chromosome allows retracing of paternal lineages 14,15 comparable with the analysis of mitochondrial DNA to retrace maternal lineages. 16 Y-chromosomal STRs are apparently as highly variable and short in length as their autosomal counterparts, 17 which qualifies them as an investigative tool in the study of aDNA.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%