Titanic's unknown child: the critical role of the mitochondrial DNA coding region in a re-identification effort.
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.
Just
Rebecca S
RS
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1413 Research Blvd., Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Loreille
Odile M
OM
Molto
J Eldon
JE
Merriwether
D Andrew
DA
Woodward
Scott R
SR
Matheson
Carney
C
Creed
Jennifer
J
McGrath
Stacey E
SE
Sturk-Andreaggi
Kimberly
K
Coble
Michael D
MD
Irwin
Jodi A
JA
Ruffman
Alan
A
Parr
Ryan L
RL
D002648:Child; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial