Single-nucleotide polymorphism analyses on ABCC11, EDAR, FGFR2, and ABO genotypes of mummified people of the Joseon Dynasty, South Korea

Although previous studies have demonstrated successful single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of modern samples, the potential applicability of this methodology to ancient human specimens has not been confirmed. With regard in particular to the SNPs in the ABCC11, EDAR, FGFR2, and ABO genes, all of which are commonly analyzed in biomedical research, only a relatively limited number of papers on ancient specimens are currently available. We thus studied the SNP genotypes in the ABCC11, EDAR, FGFR2, and ABO genes of mummies from the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Those SNP genotypes in brain samples (n = 5) were determined using multiplex single-base extension (SBE) primers in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses of each gene locus. SNP analysis revealed the mummies’ ABCC11 genotype was revealed to be 538AA (dry-type earwax and low risk for axillary osmidrosis). In the EDAR and FGFR2 genes, the variant alleles rs3827760-CC (EDAR) and rs4752566TT (FGFR2), indicative of thick and straight hair, were identified. In addition, the ABO genotypes BO02 (SN1-2), O01O02 (Sapgyo), AO01 (Hadong2), BB (Yongin), and O02O02 (SN PK) were identified. Our SNP genotyping of Korean mummies provided us with specific insight into the potential of this methodology for application to the analysis of ancient human specimens. This study fills a gap in our knowledge of the use of SNP genotyping in forensic medicine by proving that it can help to reveal the physical traits of ancient individuals.