Scientists at the Leonardo DNA Project say they are getting closer to reconstructing the 500-year-old DNA of Leonardo da Vinci – the famous Italian polymath of the Renaissance.
According to a recent press release, the project has genetically confirmed a da Vinci male bloodline that goes back to 1331.
The Leonardo DNA project was an ambitious plan from the start, and now, after nearly ten years, its scientists are closer than ever to achieving their main goal: to confirm da Vinci's final resting place.
If they succeed, it could open the door to sequencing the Renaissance man's genome.
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The team hopes their work will allow them to "better understand [da Vinci's] extraordinary talents and visual acuity through genetic associations."
With this knowledge, scientists may even be able to reconstruct his three-dimensional likeness.
Remains thought to be of the da Vinci male line were first dug up through the meticulous work of two genealogists, Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato of the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association.
For the release of their new book, Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA, the DNA project has shared some exciting developments.
Project leader and molecular anthropologist David Caramelli and forensic anthropologist Elena Pilli have apparently tested the DNA of six living descendants in the da Vinci family tree.
Segments of their Y chromosome apparently matched, indicating a bloodline going back at least 15 generations.
Now that scientists have identified a potential da Vinci bloodline, the DNA can be compared to Leonardo's own suspected remains and those thought to be of his close relatives.
Da Vinci died in May 1519, and he was said to be buried in the Saint Florentin church in Amboise, as per his wishes.
This church was destroyed in the French Revolution, and bones believed to be his were not recovered until 1863, when they were moved to a small chapel in the Loire Valley. At the time, some were unconvinced da Vinci's remains were correctly identified, and skepticism has persisted ever since.
To confirm these remains belonged to da Vinci, scientists need a relative to compare them to. But da Vinci himself died without children.
Vezzosi and Sabato worked meticulously for years to trace his father's and half-brother's male descendants, and they claim to have identified 15.
The other exciting news shared by the Leonardo DNA Project is that a project is underway to excavate a da Vinci family tomb, which may contain the bones of Leonardo's grandfather, uncle, and half-brothers.
The excavation leaders are University of Florence anthropologists Alessandro Riga and Luca Bachechi, and their preliminary results have identified at least one male in the mix.
"Further detailed analyses are necessary to determine whether the DNA extracted is sufficiently preserved," says Caramelli. "Based on the results, we can proceed with analysis of Y chromosome fragments for comparison with current descendants."
If the Y chromosomes of living da Vinci descendants match these older remains, that would support the idea that this is actually Leonardo's family line.
There's still a ways to go, and the results need to be verified by others, but maybe one day, these steps will lead to the reconstruction of da Vinci's DNA.
"Through the recovery of Leonardo's DNA," says Vezzosi, "we hope to understand the biological roots of his extraordinary visual acuity, creativity, and possibly even aspects of his health and causes of death."