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A Molecular Approach to the Sexing of the Triple Burial at the Upper Paleolithic Site of Dolní Věstonice - PubMed

  • ️Fri Jan 01 2016

A Molecular Approach to the Sexing of the Triple Burial at the Upper Paleolithic Site of Dolní Věstonice

Alissa Mittnik et al. PLoS One. 2016.

Abstract

In the past decades ancient DNA research has brought numerous insights to archaeological research where traditional approaches were limited. The determination of sex in human skeletal remains is often challenging for physical anthropologists when dealing with incomplete, juvenile or pathological specimens. Molecular approaches allow sexing on the basis of sex-specific markers or by calculating the ratio of DNA derived from different chromosomes. Here we propose a novel approach that relies on the ratio of X chromosome-derived shotgun sequencing data to the autosomal coverage, thus establishing the probability of an XX or XY karyotype. Applying this approach to the individuals of the Upper Paleolithic triple burial of Dolní Věstonice reveals that all three skeletons, including the individual DV 15, whose sex has long been debated due to a pathological condition, were male.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The triple burial of Dolní Věstonice, Moravia, dated to around 31,000 years before present.

From left to right: DV 13, DV 15, DV 14.

Fig 2
Fig 2. Ratio of alignments to chromosome X compared to ratio of alignments of all autosomes (Rx).

An Rx of below 0.6 indicates male sex, error bars represent the 95% CI. Male assignment is consistent for all three samples for both unfiltered sequences (black dots) and sequences that show evidence of post-mortem deamination (white dots).

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Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KR 4015/1-1 to JK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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