Titanic's Unknown Child: The Critical Role of the Mitochondrial DNA Coding Region in Re-Identification Effort

• NCJ Number: 234619
• Journal: Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2011 Pages: 231-235
• Date Published: June 2011
• Author(s): Rebecca S. Just; Odile M. Loreille; J. Eldon Molto; D. Andrew Merriwether; Scott R. Woodward; Carney Matheson; Jennifer Creed; Stacey E. McGrath; Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi; Michael D. Coble; Jodi A. Irwin; Alan Ruffman; Ryan L. Parr
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-MU-MU-K402
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This article reports on the use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable region 1 sequencing to identify the remains of a young male child from the Titanic disaster.

Abstract

Following the sinking of the Titanic, the remains of a young male child were recovered from the Northwest Atlantic and buried as an unknown in a grave in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2001, the remains of the child were identified as those of a young Finnish child using mitochondrial DNA (MTDNA) hypervariable region 1 sequencing. However, more recent and extensive mitochondrial Genome (mtGenome) analyses indicate that the remains were actually those of a young male child from England. The paper details the more recent testing efforts and discusses the benefits of using targeted mtDNA coding region typing in difficult forensic cases. The case also demonstrates the need for having entire mtDNA sequence databases available for forensic use. Table, figure, and references