SEX IDENTIFICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL HUMAN REMAINS BASED ON AMPLIFICATION OF THE X-AMELOGENIN AND Y-AMELOGENIN ALLELES

Sex identification of archaeological human remains is essential for th e exploration of gender differences in past populations. Traditional m orphometric analyses fail to identify the gender of incomplete skeleta l remains and that of immature individuals. In the present work, we ha ve established a sensitive and reliable method, based on amplification of the single-copy amelogenin-encoding gene (AMG). The Y allele carri es a small deletion in the first intron, facilitating the design of di stinct X- and Y-specific polymerase chain reactions. Amplification wit h three primers, two of which are allele-specific, allows unambiguous identification of both X and Y chromosome signals in a single reaction , providing an internal control. For added confidence, the reaction ma y be performed in separate tubes for each allele. Using this method, t he sex was determined from the skeletal remains of 18 individuals, inc luding young children, out of 22 examined from periods ranging from 20 0 to around 8000 years ago. The state of skeletal preservation ranged from poor to good. Cortical and cranial bones, as well as teeth, were found to provide sufficiently preserved DNA. The success of retrieval of amplifiable DNA was not related either to the period or to the buri al site, On the other hand, the method of DNA purification was critica l. In our hands, direct DNA purification by Chelex from minute samples of bone/tooth powder gave the best results. This study demonstrates t he applicability of the method for gender determination in skeletal re mains from different periods.