Eye and hair color prediction of an early medieval adult and subadult skeleton using massive parallel sequencing technology

Zupanič-Pajnič, Irena (author), Leskovar, Tamara (author), Črešnar, Matija (author)

Phenotypic trait prediction in ancient DNA analysis can provide information about the external appearance of individuals from past human populations. Some studies predicting eye and hair color in ancient adult skeletons have been published, but not for ancient subadult skeletons, which are more prone to decay. In this study, eye and hair color were predicted for an early medieval adult skeleton and a subadult skeleton that was anthropologically characterized as a middle-aged man and a subadult of unknown sex about 6 years old. When processing the petrous bones, precautions were taken to prevent contamination with modern DNA. The MillMix tissue homogenizer was used for grinding, 0.5 g of bone powder was decalcified, and DNA was purified in Biorobot EZ1. The PowerQuant System was used for quantification and a customized version of the HIrisPlex panel for massive parallel sequencing (MPS) analysis. Library preparation and templating were performed on the HID Ion Chef Instrument and sequencing on the Ion GeneStudio S5 System. Up to 21 ng DNA/g of powder was obtained from ancient petrous bones. Clean negative controls and no matches with elimination database profiles confirmed no contamination issue. Brown eyes and dark brown or black hair were predicted for the adult skeleton and blue eyes and brown or dark brown hair for the subadult skeleton. The MPS analysis results obtained proved that it is possible to predict hair and eye color not only for an adult from the Early Middle Ages, but also for a subadult skeleton dating to this period.

• Language: English
• Keywords: skeletal remains, ancient DNA, petrous bones, eye color, hair color, HIrisPlex
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: MF - Faculty of Medicine; FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 1629–1638
• Numbering: Vol. 137, iss. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-151968
• UDC: 61
• ISSN on article: 1437-1596
• DOI: 10.1007/s00414-023-03032-y
• COBISS.SI-ID: 154897411
• Publication date in RUL: 26.10.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of legal medicine
• Shortened title: Int. j. leg. med.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 1437-1596
• COBISS.SI-ID: 512020249

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: skeletni ostanki, starodavna DNK, petrous kosti

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J3-3080
• Name: Določitev predniškega porekla iz DNA za identifikacijske namene