Beethoven's hair DNA decoded to study his health issues

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Mar 2023 13:00

Doctors initiate their examination 196 years after the composer's death.

This photo provided by researchers in March 2023, shows the Stumpff Lock, from composer Ludwig van Beethoven, in a laboratory, on March 22, 2023. (AP)

Almost 200 years following Ludwig van Beethoven's death, researchers pulled DNA from strands of his hair kept by the composer's fans to examine clues behind his health problems and hearing loss.

Although they were not able to crack the case of the German composer's deafness or severe stomach ailments, they did however find a genetic risk for liver disease and a liver-damaging hepatitis B infection in the last months of his life.

Along with his chronic drinking, these factors were probably the reason why he went through liver failure, which is what killed him, as is widely believed, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology.

The composer himself wrote that he wanted doctors to study his health problems after he died. This Sunday marks 196 years after Beethoven's death.

“With Beethoven in particular, it is the case that illnesses sometimes very much limited his creative work,” said study author Axel Schmidt, a geneticist at University Hospital Bonn in Germany. “And for physicians, it has always been a mystery what was really behind it.”

With the presence of advanced DNA technology, researchers are able to pull genetic clues from Beethoven's hair which were kept by his fans. They focused on five locks that are “almost certainly authentic,” coming from the same European male, according to the study.

Other locks were examined, but they weren't sure whether they belonged to the composer or not. The first examination of the locks showed that Beethoven had been poisoned. Then, the researchers concluded that the examined hairs came from a woman.

Hair examination methodology

Study author Tristan James Alexander Begg, a biological anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, said that after cleaning Beethoven's hair one strand at a time, scientists dissolved the pieces into a solution where they fished out chunks of DNA.

Author Johannes Krause, a paleogeneticist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, indicated that getting genes out was a challenge because DNA in the hair gets chopped up into tiny fragments, he explained.

After using almost 3 meters of Beethoven's hair, researchers were able to form a genome that they could "quiz" for signs of genetic disease, Krause said.

Clear genetic signs were not detected regarding Beethoven’s gastrointestinal issues. They also found that celiac disease and lactose intolerance were unlikely causes.

Begg said the genome could offer us more clues as we learn more about how genes influence health.

Unexpected discovery

The research led to a surprising discovery. Apparently, when researchers tested DNA from living members of the extended Beethoven family, a discrepancy in the Y chromosomes was passed down on the father's side.

Interestingly enough, the Y chromosomes from the five men match each other; they, however, did not match the composer's.

This could be that there was an "extra-pair paternity event" somewhere in the generations before the composer was born, Begg said; i.e. a child born from an extramarital relationship in the composer's family tree.