The researchers managed to obtain the first DNA map of an inhabitant of Pompeii , a victim of the devastating eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD .
The study, published in Scientific Reports , was conducted by the Danish University of Copenhagen and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, with the collaboration of Serena Viva, the University of Salento in Lecce, the University of California in Irvine and the Brazilian Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte.
It is - according to the data - a man between 35 and 40 years of age , with many genetic elements similar to those of the inhabitants of central Italy and other individuals who lived in Italy at the time of the Roman Empire. And the analysis of mitochondrial DNA and that of the Y chromosome also made it possible to identify groups of genes found in the inhabitants of Sardinia , but not in other individuals who lived in other areas of Italy at the same time.
“Elements - explains Gabriele Scorrano, research coordinator - from which it can be deduced
that the man of Pompeii was originally from Italy and did not come from other countries, since he was genetically similar to contemporary populations, coming from sites around Rome "or in any case from the Center of the Peninsula .
The researchers were able to analyze the skeletal remains of two individuals found in the Blacksmith's House: their characteristics indicate that one of the two was a man between 35 and 40 years old , while the other was a woman over 50 years old.
"Their state of conservation was excellent , they must not have come into contact with too high temperatures", explains Scorrano. However, signs of a disease similar to tuberculosis were observed on the skeleton.
"The DNA was instead very degraded, but we still managed to extract it", added the researcher.
With the material obtained it was possible to make comparisons with other DNA of individuals of the time , while it was not possible to reconstruct the woman's DNA.
This is - it is underlined - an absolute first time because up to now only fragments of mitochondrial DNA had been analyzed, i.e. the DNA not contained in the nucleus of the cells, taken from both humans and animals from Pompeii.
Recovering ancient DNA from the human remains of Pompeii is therefore possible and now opens the possibility for further research in this same direction.
(Unioneonline / lf)