For over 500 years, Leonardo da Vinci has been hailed as an artist, scientist, and inventor, renowned for his extraordinary talent and groundbreaking experiments. Now, an international collaboration, the Leonardo DNA Project, is unlocking the biological secrets of this great Renaissance genius.
Scientists are closer than ever to reconstructing Leonardo da Vinci's DNA. Image credit: Shutterstock
In their newly published book, "Genius Leonardo: Genealogy and the Genetics of Leonardo's DNA," Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato of the Leonardo da Vinci Estate present the results of 30 years of research into Leonardo da Vinci's family tree. The book, spanning 21 generations and covering over 400 individuals, documents a detailed family tree dating back to 1331. This work lays the foundation for the most advanced historical genetics study to date: the reconstruction of Leonardo da Vinci's genome.
Through meticulous analysis of historical and archival documents, Vezzosi and Sabato reconstructed Leonardo's family tree, including identifying 15 direct male descendants of Leonardo's father and his half-brothers.
Researchers also discovered a Leonardo da Vinci family tomb within the Basilica of Santa Croce in Vinci, Italy. Excavation leaders Alessandro Riga and Luca Bachechi of the University of Florence found bone fragments in the tomb, some of which were radiocarbon dated. Furthermore, ancient genome analysis was completed on a specimen consistent with the age of a possible relative of Leonardo da Vinci, and preliminary results indicate that the individual was male.
"Further detailed analysis is needed to determine whether the extracted DNA is well preserved," said David Caramelli of the University of Florence. "Based on these results, we can then analyze the Y chromosome fragments and compare them with those of Leonardo's descendants today."
If the Y chromosome of a living descendant could be found in the church crypt, it would be possible to confirm the accuracy of the paternal records and historically reconstruct the family tree established by the death register. This would allow for a more in-depth study of Leonardo da Vinci's biological material and the traces he left in his original manuscripts or other works, and ultimately make DNA reconstruction possible.
The team's scientific starting point was a simple yet crucial hypothesis: tracking the unchanging Y chromosome passed down from father to son.
“We are reconstructing Leonardo’s family genealogy to the present day and preserving sites associated with him so that we can conduct scientific research on his DNA,” Vezzosi said. “By recovering Leonardo’s DNA, we hope to understand the biological roots of his extraordinary visual acuity and creativity, and even his health and cause of death.”
“Even a tiny fingerprint on a piece of paper may contain cells that can be sequenced,” said Jesse H. Ausubel of Rockefeller University in the United States. “Biology in the 21st century is shifting the boundaries of the unknowable and the unknown. We may soon be able to obtain information about Leonardo da Vinci and other historical figures that was once thought to be lost forever.”
