North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock PhotoAn Italian polymath, Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, engineer, scientist, architect, and inventor.Most people who view the 15th-century red chalk drawing known as Holy Child might admire its artistry. Others may wonder about its creator, believed to be Leonardo da Vinci. But a group of scientists, working on the assumption that the painting was indeed one of da Vincis works, saw a chance to extract the Italian Renaissance masters DNA. Now, they believe that they were successful but numerous hurdles still remain. For one, scientists arent entirely sure who created the Holy Child. For another, more concrete samples of da Vincis DNA have proven difficult to pin down.The Holy Child And The Quest To Find Leonardo Da Vincis DNAAccording to a new (but as-of-yet not peer-reviewed) study published in the preprint database bioRxiv, scientists began their search for Leonardo da Vincis DNA by gently swabbing the 15th-century sketch known as the Holy Child. From this, they extracted a small sample of genetic material. Public DomainThe Holy Child sketch, which has been attributed to Leonardo da VInci.The sample was extremely promising. Scientists were able to identify a Y-chromosome DNA sequence that belongs to a haplogroup known as E1b1b. This genetic sequence is common in the Tuscany region, where da Vinci is from, and was likely carried by his family. Whats more, the sample also had similarities to another genetic sample taken from a letter written by a distant cousin of da Vinci.As such, the genetic findings seem very promising. Scientists are hopeful to use such techniques to authenticate other artistic works of unknown or disputed origin, and they hope to specifically study da Vincis DNA in the hopes of better understanding what made him so gifted.Theres just one problem: Its been difficult to definitively identify Leonardo da Vincis DNA. Even the sample of genetic material extracted from the Holy Child could belong to someone else entirely. The Challenges Of Verifying Da Vincis DNAPublic DomainA portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. One main problem facing the scientists working to identify Leonardo da Vincis DNA is that his genetic material has been very difficult to find. His original burial place in France was destroyed during the French Revolution. Not only are da Vincis remains now mixed with others, but scientists have been denied access to them. Scientists also dont know where his mother was buried, and they have not been allowed to enter the tomb of his father. Theres da Vincis artwork, but scientists are forbidden from testing most of the pieces, and others have not yielded any DNA samples. Whats more, the artist behind the Holy Child is unknown. Its possible that da Vinci did not sketch it himself, but rather that one of his students completed it. The student could have easily been from the same region as da Vinci, and thus had the E1b1b genetic sequence found in Tuscany.But despite the difficulties, scientists arent giving up in their endeavor to identify da Vincis DNA. Theyve begun examining bones from a da Vinci family vault, testing the DNA of a living da Vinci descendant, and running tests on a lock of hair that was once allegedly trimmed from da Vincis beard. There are also letters written by da Vinci relatives that may contain family DNA, as well as other da Vinci works that could hold the artists DNA. As such, challenges still remain. Scientists dont have a definitive sample of Leonardo da Vincis DNA, which makes it difficult to compare samples found elsewhere. However, as they continue to examine his work and letters written by his relatives perhaps theyll be able to bring together pieces of a larger genetic puzzle. And maybe, someday, this puzzle will provide new insight into Leonardo da Vincis incredible genius.After reading about the possible extraction of Leonardo da Vincis DNA from a 15th-century sketch, discover the impressive stories behind some of the smartest people in the world. Or, see how these Leonardo da Vinci inventions changed the course of human history.The post Scientists May Have Extracted Leonardo Da Vincis DNA From A Renaissance Sketch appeared first on All That's Interesting.