In the cells of Pompeii: new DNA research helps identify the condition of two victims. From the article:

Researchers studying human remains from Pompeii have extracted genetic secrets from the bones of a man and a woman who were buried when the Roman city was engulfed in volcanic ash.

This first “Pompeian human genome” is an almost complete set of “genetic instructions” from the victims, encoded in DNA extracted from their bones.

Ancient DNA was preserved in bodies that were encased in time-hardened ash….

The two victims the researchers studied, according to anthropologist Dr Serena Viva from the University of Salento, were not attempting to escape.

“From the position [of their bodies] it seems they were not running away,” Dr Viva told BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science. “The answer to why they weren’t fleeing could lie in their health conditions.”

Clues have now been revealed in this new study of their bones….

Both the remarkable preservation and the latest laboratory technology allowed the scientists to extract a great deal of information from a “really small amount of bone powder”, as Prof Scorrano explained.

“New sequencing machines can [read] several whole genomes at the same time,” he said.

The genetic study revealed that the man’s skeleton contained DNA from tuberculosis-causing bacteria, suggesting he might have had the disease prior to his death. And a fragment of bone at the base of his skull contained enough intact DNA to work out his entire genetic code.

This showed that he shared “genetic markers” – or recognisable reference points in his genetic code – with other individuals who lived in Italy during the Roman Imperial age. But he also had a group of genes commonly found in those from the island of Sardinia, which suggested there might have been high levels of genetic diversity across the Italian Peninsula at the time.

For the research article in Scientific Reports, see here.