Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Begg, Tristan James Alexander
• Schmidt, Axel
• Kocher, Arthur
• Larmuseau, Maarten H.D.
• Runfeldt, Göran
• Maier, Paul Andrew
• Wilson, John D.
• Barquera, Rodrigo
• Maj, Carlo
• Szolek, András
• Sager, Michael
• Clayton, Stephen
• Peltzer, Alexander
• Hui, Ruoyun
• Ronge, Julia
• Reiter, Ella
• Freund, Cäcilia
• Burri, Marta
• Aron, Franziska
• Tiliakou, Anthi
• Osborn, Joanna
• Behar, Doron M.
• Boecker, Malte
• Brandt, Guido
• Cleynen, Isabelle
• Strassburg, Christian
• Prüfer, Kay
• Kühnert, Denise
• Meredith, William Rhea
• Nöthen, Markus M.
• Attenborough, Robert David
• Kivisild, Toomas
• Krause, Johannes

Titel

Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven

Ist Teil von

• Current biology, 2023-04, Vol.33 (8), p.1431-1447.e22

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) remains among the most influential and popular classical music composers. Health problems significantly impacted his career as a composer and pianist, including progressive hearing loss, recurring gastrointestinal complaints, and liver disease. In 1802, Beethoven requested that following his death, his disease be described and made public. Medical biographers have since proposed numerous hypotheses, including many substantially heritable conditions. Here we attempt a genomic analysis of Beethoven in order to elucidate potential underlying genetic and infectious causes of his illnesses. We incorporated improvements in ancient DNA methods into existing protocols for ancient hair samples, enabling the sequencing of high-coverage genomes from small quantities of historical hair. We analyzed eight independently sourced locks of hair attributed to Beethoven, five of which originated from a single European male. We deemed these matching samples to be almost certainly authentic and sequenced Beethoven’s genome to 24-fold genomic coverage. Although we could not identify a genetic explanation for Beethoven's hearing disorder or gastrointestinal problems, we found that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition for liver disease. Metagenomic analyses revealed furthermore that Beethoven had a hepatitis B infection during at least the months prior to his death. Together with the genetic predisposition and his broadly accepted alcohol consumption, these present plausible explanations for Beethoven’s severe liver disease, which culminated in his death. Unexpectedly, an analysis of Y chromosomes sequenced from five living members of the Van Beethoven patrilineage revealed the occurrence of an extra-pair paternity event in Ludwig van Beethoven’s patrilineal ancestry. [Display omitted] •Eight locks of hair attributed to Ludwig van Beethoven underwent genomic analyses•We deemed five of these authentic and sequenced Beethoven’s genome to high coverage•Beethoven had a predisposition for liver disease and became infected with hepatitis B•We also discovered an extra-pair-paternity event in Beethoven’s paternal line Begg et al. perform genomic analyses of eight locks of hair attributed to composer Ludwig van Beethoven. They sequence a high-coverage genome, finding strong genetic risk for liver disease that may have been compounded by alcohol and an infection with hepatitis B. An extra-pair paternity event is discovered in Beethoven’s direct patrilineage.