The Romanov Family (lab activity)

THE ROMANOV FAMILY

1) Hemophilia is a kind of sex-linked disorder. The Romanovs actually have a child with symptoms of hemophilia. It is possible, that a family with the same genotypes have no children with hemophilia, because in Alexandra's family this disorder was present then the chance of having a normal child was 50%. This is true each time a child is born to the family.

2) Skeletons can be identified trough few techniques in order to determine the age, sex, and race of the decedent. Dr Baden mentioned that he and his colleagues :
- Analyzed the skulls, the prominences on the ridges, mastoid prominences , pelvis and the muscular insertions.
- Evaluated the orbits, the mandible, the mouth, the race of the individual.
- Measured the length of the Bones and looked at these under a microscope and saw certain cellular development.

3) DNA found in the mitochondrion of a cell differs in structure and is separate from the DNA found in the cell nucleus. Mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, exists as a circular loop of double-stranded DNA rather than the linear form found in nuclear DNA. However, both forms of DNA are made up of the same units or nucleotides.

4) mtDNA is inherited solely from the mother. (Mitochondria are predominantly from the mother’s egg and not from the father’s sperm.)

5) We can compared mtDNA taken from the skeletal remains to the mtDNA of an existing maternal relative. For that comparison, The Sequence Server contains mtDNA sequences obtained from all of the female bones as well as all of the male bones in the Yekaterinburg grave.

6) After the comparison of mitochondrial DNA, the sequences showed that Anna Anderson was not Anastasia but Franziska Schanzkowska, the missing factory worker. Indeed Anderson's mtDNA is a perfect match with that of Carl Maucher's ( a maternal relative of Franziska who has her same mtDNA sequence). There was no match between Anderson and Prince Philip - Anastasia Romanov's royal relative.

7) Despite the facial and other troubling similarities, and the testimony of the author Peter Kurth testifying that through her habits, gestures and ability to talk many languages, Anna Anderson was really Anastasia Romanov, I believe that science proved the contrary.

We can imagine some probable errors from scientists in this case, but many accurate analysis have been done (the handwriting of Anastasia compared to Anna; the ear characteristics; body particularities…) , adding to that DNA analysis. Specialists examined the mitochondrial DNA of Anna that if was who she claimed to be, would have matched at least one of her female siblings or her mother, Alexandra. However, instead of that the mtDNA of Anna was perfectly matching her maternal relative Karl Maucher (son of her sister, Gertrude Schanzkowska). This is a strong evidence that demonstrate that Anna Anderson is not Anastasia Romanov but still, what would have been more relevant is the fact to compare mtDNA of Anna with of other maternal relatives for a larger examination. I guess none of them except Karl was still alive at this time then.