Locks of hair form a symphony of genetic information about Beethoven – #Locks #hair #form #symphony #genetic #information #Beethoven
March 22 (Reuters) – Using five strands of hair, scientists have sequenced the genome of one of history’s greatest composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, nearly two centuries after his death, revealing information about his fatal liver disease but not his hearing loss.
His genome showed the German composer was both genetically predisposed to liver disease and infected with the hepatitis B virus, researchers said Wednesday. After his death in Vienna in 1827 at the age of 56, an autopsy revealed that he had cirrhosis of the liver, a disease often caused by chronic drinking. The new findings suggest that multiple factors are behind her liver disease, including genetics, viral infection and alcohol consumption.
Tristan Begg, a biological anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, said: “Beethoven’s risk of liver disease, mainly due to mutations in two genes – PNPLA3 and HFE – would have nearly tripled his risk of the full spectrum of progressive liver disease.” In the journal Current Biology.
“On their own, these risk factors are not of much concern to most people who have them, but they would have a harmful interaction with alcohol consumption,” Begg said. “Prior to this study, alcohol was the only known risk factor for Beethoven’s liver disease.”
The presence of Hepatitis B virus inserted into Beethoven’s genome suggests that he had a liver infection at least several months before his death, and possibly before.
Beethoven experienced progressive hearing loss starting at age 29, and by age 44 the hearing loss was complete, although he continued to create masterpieces.
“We were ultimately unable to find a genetic explanation for Beethoven’s hearing loss, but this by no means rules out such an explanation, as several possible explanations cannot be reliably or comprehensively evaluated,” Begg said.
Begg said no evidence was found of conditions that some experts speculated, such as otosclerosis or Paget’s disease.
A major figure in the history of Western civilization, Beethoven was a brilliant and innovative composer of symphonies, sonatas, concertos and other works, in addition to a single opera. Many of his works have been immortalized, including symphonies No. 5, 6, and 9, Moonlight Sonata, and Fur Elise.
In 1802, in a document called the Heiligenstadt Testament, Beethoven asked his doctor to describe his hearing loss and other health problems after his death, so that “at least as much as possible the world would be reconciled to me.”
Beethoven’s music from his death ca 200 years later, it continues to inspire millions, Begg said. “It was valuable to undertake this study, firstly to try to satisfy one’s own wishes for an understanding of Beethoven’s health, but also to convey more precisely the biographical facts that concerned him.”
The researchers analyzed eight strands of hair from public and private collections in the United States and Europe, and found that five of them matched hers and were nearly authentic. The best-preserved one, called the Stumpff Lock, named after the man who once owned it, was used to sequence its genome.
“The DNA was really messed up,” said study co-author Johannes Krause, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
“It was really difficult to get enough DNA from such a sample to assemble a genome. “We had to extract DNA from over 2 meters (7 feet) of hair from one of the locks, called the Stumpff Lock,” Krause added.
The study did not determine the cause of Beethoven’s gastrointestinal problems, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.
He also researched Beethoven’s ancestry and uncovered an unexpected detail. Genetic data on Beethoven and five living relatives revealed that there was a child from an extramarital affair on the father’s side of the family in the generations before the composer’s birth.
Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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2023-03-22 19:19:59
Source – reuters
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