Transcript What Happened to Anastasia?

What Happened to
Anastasia Romanov?
A story of mitochondrial
DNA
The Romanov Family
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Czar Nicholas and Czarina Alexandra were
the rulers of Russia until 1917
They had five children – most famous were
Alexei (heir apparent and born with
hemophilia) and Anastasia (fourth daughter,
subject of movies and speculation for years)
A Family Portrait
Source: Associated Press
Hemophilia
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A hereditary disorder
Blood does not clot normally
Cannot make a protein that binds with
platelets to make blood clot
Any injury will bleed profusely
More common in males than females
because the defective gene is on the X
chromosome
Symptoms of Hemophilia
Source: http://www.doctortipster.com
The Czarina was descended
from Queen Victoria
What happened in 1918?
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1917 – Bolshevik revolution; Romanovs no
longer considered royalty
1918 – The entire family was executed at
midnight
Two bodies were buried separately from the
rest of the family, so rumors began at once
that there were two survivors, probably
Anastasia and Alexei
Anna Anderson
- The most famous Anastasia
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For years, people claimed to be a
member of the Romanov family who
survived the executions
1920 – hospitalized for a suicide
attempt
1922 – word spread that she was the
missing Grand Duchess Anastasia –
she said she was rescued by a soldier
who was supposed to kill the family
Like Anastasia, she had an slightly
deformed foot
She also knew some stories from
Anastasia’s childhood
Could they be the same
woman?
Investigations
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1927 – The czarina’s brother (Ernest Louis, Grand
Duke of Hesse) financed an investigation
Conclusion: Anna Anderson is a Polish factory
worker with a history of mental illness (Franziska
Schanzkowska)
But the lawsuits increased her publicity so more
people believed her story
Eventually moved to the U.S. – lived on the
generosity of supporters, died and cremated in 1984
A Significant Find in 1991
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The Romanov burial site was found in 1991
Missing two bodies
The bones contained mtDNA (mitochondrial
DNA)
What is mtDNA?
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Circular loop of DNA
About 39 genes, including those for tRNA and
rRNA
About 2-10 copies per mitochondrion, 1001,000 copies per human cell
Inherited from mothers – true of all animals
Mitochondrial DNA
Source: www.brusselsgenetics.be
More on mtDNA
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Human egg cell –
100,000 to
1,000,000 copies
of mtDNA (from
the mother)
Human sperm
cell – 100 to
1,000 copies of
mtDNA (from the
father)
Source: Advanced BIOLOGY, Principles & Applications by Clegg, Mackean, Murray, p. 603.
Why don’t we have paternal
mtDNA?
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Paternal (“from the father”) mtDNA does not
survive in the fertilized egg
Usually in the tail, which doesn’t enter the
egg
If they do enter the egg, they are marked for
destruction later
What is the significance of
this?
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mtDNA is usually unchanged from parent to
offspring
You can trace your lineage through your
maternal line using your mtDNA
All your siblings (including brothers) have the
same mtDNA as your mother, which is the
same mtDNA as her mother, which is the
same mtDNA as your maternal greatgrandmother, and so on….
Side note
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Jesse James was a famous American outlaw
His remains were identified because his
mtDNA matched that of the son of his sister’s
great-granddaughter
Back to Anna Anderson
The investigation continues…
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1991 burial site – tested the mtDNA of the
female bones
Matched the mtDNA of Prince Philip of
England (related through Queen Elizabeth to
Czarina Alexandra)
But rumors still abounded Anastasia and
Alexei might still be alive somewhere (and
what if Anna Anderson really were
Anastasia?)
More testing
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Anna Anderson – died in 1984, right?
In the 1990s, tested her mtDNA (from hair
and lab samples)
Matched the mtDNA of a man who was the
great-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska
Franziska Schanzkowska was a Polish
factory worker
Anna Anderson was an impostor after all
But what about the real
Anastasia (and Alexei)?
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2007 – two more bodies were found, some
distance from the Romanov burial site – that
of a young boy and a teenage girl
2009 – many different organizations finished
testing mtDNA of the remains
Conclusion: These were the bodies of the
missing Romanovs
Sources
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http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/healthtopics/topics/hemophilia/
http://www.dnaftb.org/