title: Uncovering the sources of DNA found on the Turin Shroud.
abstract: The Turin Shroud is traditionally considered to be the burial cloth in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped after his death approximately 2000 years ago. Here, we report the main findings from the analysis of genomic DNA extracted from dust particles vacuumed from parts of the body image and the lateral edge used for radiocarbon dating. Several plant taxa native to the Mediterranean area were identified as well as species with a primary center of origin in Asia, the Middle East or the Americas but introduced in a historical interval later than the Medieval period. Regarding human mitogenome lineages, our analyses detected sequences from multiple subjects of different ethnic origins, which clustered into a number of Western Eurasian haplogroups, including some known to be typical of Western Europe, the Near East, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian sub-continent. Such diversity does not exclude a Medieval origin in Europe but it would be also compatible with the historic path followed by the Turin Shroud during its presumed journey from the Near East. Furthermore, the results raise the possibility of an Indian manufacture of the linen cloth.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Genomica, DAFNAE - Università di Padova, Via Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barcaccia
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Genomica, DAFNAE - Università di Padova, Via Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galla
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, Via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Achilli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "L. Spallanzani", Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olivieri
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "L. Spallanzani", Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torroni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D018744:DNA, Plant