27-12-2021, 02:44 AM
I'm no expert in biocodicology but that's probably not going to work.
The albumen of an egg does not contain cell nuclei and thus only traces of DNA from the hen's oviduct. Also the paint is an extremely thin and transparent layer that has exposed any genetic material to the environment for centuries, thus massively degrading it. Ideally you'd like to have samples with lots of DNA copies protected by thick walled cells like in bones or teeth. Therefore I think obtaining usable chicken DNA from the paint is extremely unlikely.
The protein sequence, even if it could be determined from the tiny amount of paint, doesn't nearly have the same resolving power as SNPs and STRs from DNA and cannot be correlated with archaeological DNA findings from chicken bones. At least not in any straightforward way.
It is possible to identify some albumen traits associated with chicken breeds though but you'd likely need a proteome database from other contemporary paintings containing egg white of known origin.
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I'll leave that to the biocodicologists, maybe it is indeed possible, at least some day.
The only material theoretically containing ample DNA is the vellum, but it is most likely severely damaged and contaminated due to processing. Similarly the vellum proteome could be extracted and compared to other manuscripts to assess a shared origin. Again we'll have to see what's possible, but I'd still bet my money there and not on any paint.
We have seen spectacular developments regarding ancient DNA in the last years in palaeontology (even from cave soil!) so extracting the desired DNA while removing contaminants is certainly possible if you hire the right specialists.It's all about developing the correct sample processing method. And then interpreting the vast data from Next Gen Sequencing of course. But it's certaily feasible.
Yet, forensic palynology would be much more promising in my opinion, basically extracting individual pollen grains that were trapped in or under the paint during creation of the manuscript and analyzing them in an electron microscope. It's only minimally destructive and the plant species and thus rough geographic region should be identifiable. Unfortunately Middle Europe isn't exactly diverse and rather uniform regarding plant species but it might be possible to determine a location north or south of the alps. The flora of Tuscany is different from South Germany or an alpine valley.
Or maybe we'd find some exotic pollen proving the VM was indeed made in [enter fringe VM origin theory of your choice]
The albumen of an egg does not contain cell nuclei and thus only traces of DNA from the hen's oviduct. Also the paint is an extremely thin and transparent layer that has exposed any genetic material to the environment for centuries, thus massively degrading it. Ideally you'd like to have samples with lots of DNA copies protected by thick walled cells like in bones or teeth. Therefore I think obtaining usable chicken DNA from the paint is extremely unlikely.
The protein sequence, even if it could be determined from the tiny amount of paint, doesn't nearly have the same resolving power as SNPs and STRs from DNA and cannot be correlated with archaeological DNA findings from chicken bones. At least not in any straightforward way.
It is possible to identify some albumen traits associated with chicken breeds though but you'd likely need a proteome database from other contemporary paintings containing egg white of known origin.
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I'll leave that to the biocodicologists, maybe it is indeed possible, at least some day.
The only material theoretically containing ample DNA is the vellum, but it is most likely severely damaged and contaminated due to processing. Similarly the vellum proteome could be extracted and compared to other manuscripts to assess a shared origin. Again we'll have to see what's possible, but I'd still bet my money there and not on any paint.
We have seen spectacular developments regarding ancient DNA in the last years in palaeontology (even from cave soil!) so extracting the desired DNA while removing contaminants is certainly possible if you hire the right specialists.It's all about developing the correct sample processing method. And then interpreting the vast data from Next Gen Sequencing of course. But it's certaily feasible.
Yet, forensic palynology would be much more promising in my opinion, basically extracting individual pollen grains that were trapped in or under the paint during creation of the manuscript and analyzing them in an electron microscope. It's only minimally destructive and the plant species and thus rough geographic region should be identifiable. Unfortunately Middle Europe isn't exactly diverse and rather uniform regarding plant species but it might be possible to determine a location north or south of the alps. The flora of Tuscany is different from South Germany or an alpine valley.
Or maybe we'd find some exotic pollen proving the VM was indeed made in [enter fringe VM origin theory of your choice]
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