New Advances Reconstructing the Y Chromosome Haplotype of Napoleon the First Based on Three of his Living Descendants


  •  Gerard Lucotte    
  •  Peter Hrechdakian    

Abstract

This paper describes the findings of the complete reconstruction of the lineage Y chromosome haplotype of the French Emperor Napoléon I. In a previous study (Lucotte et al., 2013) we reconstructed, for more than one hundred Y-STRs (Y–short tandem repeats), the Y-chromosome haplotype of Napoléon I based on data comparing STR allelic values obtained from the DNA of two of his living descendants: Charles Napoléon (C.N.) and Alexandre Colonna Walewski (A.C.W.); in the present study we compare STR allelic values of C.N. and A.C.W. to those of Mike Clovis (M.C.), a living fifth generation descendant of Lucien (one of Napoléon’s brothers). When compared between M.C., C.N. and A.C.W., STR allelic values are identical for a total of 93 STRs; that permits us to propose those values, for which the three living descendants are identical, as expected allelic values of Napoléon I’s Y-chromosome haplotype. For seven STRs, allele values are variable between M.C., C.N. and A.C.W.; we propose for three of them (DYS442, DYS454 and DYS712) expected allelic values, based on data concerning the allele distributions of these STRs in the population.


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