title: Y-chromosomal analysis identifies the skeletal remains of Swiss national hero Jörg Jenatsch (1596-1639).
abstract: Jörg Jenatsch was a Swiss defender of independence and a fighter for liberty in the 17th century. With the help of three living male members of the Jenatsch family, we successfully identified a skeleton exhumed from Chur cathedral as the remains of Jörg Jenatsch. Our conclusion was based upon complete Y-STR and Y-SNP profiles that could be generated by replicate analyses of a bone sample available to us. The skeleton and the three living family members carried the same Y-SNP haplogroup, but were discordant at three of 23 Y-STR loci. This notwithstanding, conservative biostatistical evaluation of the data suggests that the Chur skeleton is at least 20 times more likely than not to be Jörg Jenatsch.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: cordula.haas@irm.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Cordula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Natallia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shved
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Frank Jakobus
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rühli
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Demokritus University of Thrace, Greece.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papageorgopoulou
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Purps
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geppert
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Willuweit
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roewer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Informatics and Statistics, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krawczak
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D017931:DNA Primers; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers
keywords: Ancient DNA; Identification; Likelihood; Mutation; Y-SNP; Y-STR