The Da Vinci code: the scientists want to decipher the genome of an artist
ARTinvestment.RU   17 августа 2017

American scientists hope to obtain a DNA sample to Leonardo da Vinci from his bones or from the pages of his diaries

Oversees the project scientist-эколог, Professor new-йоркского Rockefeller University Ausubel Jess (Jesse H. Ausubel). He looked forward to what-то results by 2019 — year 500-летия since the death of Da Vinci.

the Decoding of DNA in the last decade began to pursue a much simpler and cheaper. If earlier it was required to take a large enough sample material, today will last just one cell or even cell parts. As for the price, today a similar study costs about $10 thousand less.

However, in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, the most complicated is exactly how to obtain reliable DNA sample. The fact that the chapel in the French city of Amboise, where Leonardo is buried, was plundered during the Huguenot wars. The remains of the nobles (including the Leonardo) from plundered graves have been mixed. In the mid-nineteenth century the French critic Arsene Russa conducted excavations there and randomly separated from the rest of the bones "the remains of Leonardo", guided by the extant descriptions of his appearance. But who really lies in the grave with his name — is still a mystery. To solve Ausubel intends to take two more DNA — father and half-brother Leonardo — from the family crypt Da Vinci in the Florentine Abbey. Unlike burial in Amboise, the burial place of family members Da Vinci remained intact all these centuries. Comparison with the genomes of the immediate family of the artist will once and for all determine who is in Amboise.

However, if the pattern matching does not reveal family ties, for the DNA of the artist Jess Ausubel go to the pages of his diaries. Scribbled up and down, they are probably stored on its surface skin or even a drop of blood from a sudden cut in ocence feathers of a finger.

Which will give the group Asubel the human genome Leonardo? For example, it will help in authenticating disputed works. They also probably have particles of biological material, which can be compared with the reference sample. Besides Leonardo, known to be possessed by nature sharp vision. Who knows, maybe in the future, knowing the "da Vinci code", we will be able to reproduce the vision of a genius in other people.

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources: artnet.com, artinvestment.ru