Ancient DNA: Genetic Analysis of aDNA from sixteen skeletons of the Vedrovice Collection

Bone and tooth samples from sixteen individuals of the Vedrovice skeletal collection were submitted to ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses of mitochondrial as well as nuclear DNA. Compared with other aDNA prehistoric samples analysed at the University of Mainz aDNA laboratories, the Vedrovice samples are generally not among the best preserved due to a low content of severely damaged DNA molecules. Only 37.5% of the individuals yielded consistent results reproducible from different extracts. It was possible to type mitochondrial DNA samples from three male and three female individuals. The resulting six different DNA sequences (haplotypes) were classified into 4 haplogroups: haplogroup K (represented by two individuals), haplogroup T2 (also represented by two individuals), haplogroup H and haplogroup J1c, each represented by one individual. All of these haplogroups have been identified amongst modern European populations, although the individual haplotypes are predominantly represented among today's Eastern-European populations. Two of the Vedrovice haplotypes are unique, and as yet not identified among the currently known modern lineages. Haplotype N1a, whose incidence among LBK individuals is relatively high elsewhere (Haak et al. 2005), was not recovered among the analysed individuals from Vedrovice.