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Read how DNA was used to solve the mystery of the Romanov family's execution. From Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications by Ricki Lewis.
In the summer of 1918, the former Russian tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Their bodies were purposely disfigured and buried in an unmarked grave. When the remains were discovered, almost seventy-five years later, the only forensic evidence left intact for analysis was DNA. This article tells the whole story, from the grisly murders to the DNA forensics that finally solved a decades-old mystery.
Would forensic scientists have been able to positively identify the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family without the use of DNA analysis?
How did forensic scientists determine which of the remains were from males, and which were from females?
What genetic anomaly in Tsar Nicholas II's mitochondrial DNA initially confused forensic scientists, making them think the sample was contaminated? How did this anomaly eventually allow scientists to identify the remains as Nicholas II?
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