From the DNA of Beethoven’s hair revealed a family secret

by time news

Time.news-L‘impressive hair by Ludwig van Beethoven is providing new clues about his health problems but also about a family secret. There are many finds in this sense because his friends loved to keep locks of the great composer’s hair, and others pulled them out in memory on his deathbed.

And now, nearly two centuries later, an international team of researchers has examined some of these strands to sequence the famous musician’s genome.

In an article published Wednesday in the magazine Current BiologyScientists have revealed that they are trying to ascertain through his DNA the cause of Ludwig’s progressive hearing loss, chronic gastrointestinal disorders and severe liver disease, which culminated in his death at the age of 56 in 1827.

Historians and medical scholars have long examined Beethoven’s diaries and letters for clues to his health problems. Scholars were inspired by a document found one day after his death in Vienna in a hidden compartment of his desk. Addressed to his brothers, Beethoven requested that details of his medical ailments be made public after his death.

But the analysis also revealed a real twist. But let’s go in order.

In 1994, members of the American Beethoven Society, then led by musicologist William Meredith, who authored the article, purchased a lock of Beethoven’s hair at Sotheby’s in London. The hair, called the Hiller lock, from the name of the composer Ferdinand Hiller who cut it on the day of Beethoven’s funeral, was exhibited at the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University in California. Some visitors requested that he be subjected to DNA testing. Some strands were analysed, but the technology for extracting DNA from hair was not advanced enough at the time.

Twenty years have passed and Meredith is contacted by Tristan Begga biological anthropologist and Beethoven fan who had volunteered at the Beethoven Center as an undergraduate who proposed reviving the DNA project by analyzing thea lock of Hiller and other locks of hair of the composer. A member of the board of directors of the American Beethoven Society, Kevin Brownpurchased additional strands of Beethoven’s hair for analysis, including a sample known as the Stumpff lock.

In the end, eight locks attributed to Beethoven were examined: after intense work, biologists, geneticists, immunologists and genealogists concluded that there were enough clues about the DNA of the great late musician. And in particular, Hiller’s lock that had even become the subject of a study text, and also the basis for a film, should be attributed to a woman.

The researchers then also analyzed saliva samples for genetic testing from five male relatives of Van Beethoven in Belgium. They had good genealogical records demonstrating a common ancestor with the composer: Aert Van Beethoven, natonel 1535.

They compared the Y chromosome from Beethoven’s genome to that of the five living men of the Van Beethoven line. A man’s Y chromosome remains nearly identical to that of his father and is passed on from generation to generation. The result that came out is that the five living Van Beethovens were related to each other, but not with Ludwig van Beethoven.

In other words, a Beethoven’s father was not the biological parent of the child Ludwig and therefore questioned the paternity of Beethoven’s father, whose baptismal certificate has never been found. The most accredited thesis is that one of his ancestors was the result of an extramarital affair: probably the composer’s father, Johann van Beethoven, was not the biological son of his grandfather.

As for Ludwig’s ailments, the chief complaint was hearing loss, which began in his mid-20s. He also suffered from debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms and bouts of jaundice. The autopsy revealed that he had cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, and an enlarged spleen. Medical biographers have debated what killed him and whether his liver disease was the result of excessive alcohol consumption or some other cause.

“In 1802 Beethoven requested that, after his death, his illness be described and made public,” the scientists write in a study published today in the scientific journal Current Biology. “Although we have been unable to identify a genetic explanation for his hearing impairment or his gastrointestinal problems, we have found that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition to liver disease.”

Researchers they did not find a genetic cause for the deafness or stomach pain he suffered throughout his life.

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