Titanic's unknown child: The critical role of the mitochondrial DNA coding region in a re-identification effort

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• 作者：Rebecca S. Just^a ; ¹ ; Odile M. Loreille^a ; ¹ ; J. Eldon Molto^b ; D. Andrew Merriwether^c ; Scott R. Woodward^d ; ² ; Carney Matheson^e ; Jennifer Creed^f ; Stacey E. McGrath^c ; Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi^a ; Michael D. Coble^a ; Jodi A. Irwin^a ; Alan Ruffman^g ; Ryan L. Parr^f ; ^{Ryan.Parr@genesisgenomics.com}
• 关键词：Titanic ; DNA identification ; Mitochondrial DNA ; Degraded DNA ; Coding region ; Single nucleotide polymorphism ; Database
• 刊名：Forensic Science International: Genetics
• 出版年：2011
• 出版时间：June 2011
• 年：2011
• 卷：5
• 期：3
• 页码：231-235
• 全文大小：178 K

文摘

This report describes a re-examination of the remains of a young male child recovered in the Northwest Atlantic following the loss of the Royal Mail Ship Titanic in 1912 and buried as an unknown in Halifax, Nova Scotia shortly thereafter. Following exhumation of the grave in 2001, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable region 1 sequencing and odontological examination of the extremely limited skeletal remains resulted in the identification of the child as Eino Viljami Panula, a 13-month-old Finnish boy. This paper details recent and more extensive mitochondrial genome analyses that indicate the remains are instead most likely those of an English child, Sidney Leslie Goodwin. The case demonstrates the benefit of targeted mtDNA coding region typing in difficult forensic cases, and highlights the need for entire mtDNA sequence databases appropriate for forensic use.