More Mitochondrial

Since Kyla had me read The Seven Daughters of Eve, I have a cocktail party level of knowledge about what she's working on. She's been working on a project to build up a mitochondrial DNA database. That's different than nuclear DNA, where both parents' DNA combine to form the child's. In the mitochondrial case, it's purely passed down from the mother, and the rate at which it changes is relatively predictable and due to mutation over long time periods. When they're trying to identify you, mitochondrial DNA is one more item in the bag o' DNA tricks as far as I can tell. Recently Kyla forwarded an article about the crash of a Northwest Airlines plane into a mountain in Alaska during WWII. AFDIL was involved in identifying the crewman that belonged to a single arm that was recovered from the glacier not too long ago.

That's a long story for the rest of you as a lead-in to point Kyla at an article in the Mercury on a very similar topic: another WWII plane that went down just north of Kings Canyon in the Sierras. The article really centers around the families, who even after all these years would still like some closure as new clues and new techniques emerge.

The case is a forensic replay for military anthropologists now trying to identify the remains. Two years ago, ice climbers had found the frozen body of another one of the four crew members, air Cadet Leo Mustonen, 50 feet from the body Stekel discovered Aug. 15 on Mendel Glacier in Kings Canyon National Park. To identify Mustonen, authorities collected DNA samples from the airmen's families. This time, with the DNA already in hand, investigators hope to identify the second airman within weeks. For the three remaining families, the anguished wait continues.

With my cocktail party knowledge, I thought Kyla might be particularly interested in this snippet of the article:

... investigators are meticulous as they go over the biological, DNA and physical evidence. Though they declined last week to talk about their progress, they did say that having DNA samples from the relatives on the mothers' side of the three remaining airmen will help solve this case much faster.

It's always nice to know when you're doing something useful!