“Why Scientists Dug up the Father of Genetics, Gregor Mendel, and Analyzed His DNA”, 2022-12-30 ():
When the man known as “father of genetics” turns 200, how do you celebrate? By digging up his body and sequencing his DNA, of course. That’s what a team of scientists in the Czech Republic did this year to celebrate Gregor Mendel, a scientist and friar whose experiments in the mid-1800s laid the groundwork for modern genetics.
…Exhuming Mendel from his grave in Brno and running genetic tests on his remains turned out to be a doable project—so long as they could get permission from the Augustinians. That’s the religious order that Mendel belonged to, and with which he remains: The Augustinian tomb in the city’s central cemetery was thought to contain Mendel’s body.
…“We actually came up with this idea of going through his personal possessions because we knew we needed some reference material to actually confirm his identity”, says Pardy. Curators at local museums let them swab items like Mendel’s microscopes, his eyeglasses, written records of his meteorological measurements, and a cigarette case. The team also carefully searched inside Mendel’s favorite books and, in a book about astronomy, found a hair. By looking at DNA from all that, and comparing it to DNA in the skeleton, they felt certain that they’d found Mendel’s body.
Sequencing his DNA revealed genetic variants linked to diabetes, heart problems, and kidney disease. The variant that most intrigued Fairbanks was in a gene that has been associated with epilepsy and neurological issues.
“He suffered throughout his life from some sort of a psychological or neurological disorder that caused him to have very severe nervous breakdowns”, says Fairbanks. “That may well have been an inherited condition—and that was a fascinating discovery that these scientists made.”
…“We believe that he would be happy. We know he was very enthusiastic for all kinds of research”, she says—noting that just before he died, Mendel requested that an extensive autopsy be done.