Abstract
Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a Croatian nun who is in consideration for beatification by the Vatican, which is facilitated by the identification of her 20th-century remains. Sister Marija was buried in a tomb in Rijeka, Croatia, along with other nuns including her biological sister, Tereza Kozulić (1861–1933). When the remains were exhumed in 2011, they were found in a deteriorated state and commingled with several other sets of remains. Thus, mitochondrial genome sequencing of the long bones was performed to sort the remains by mitochondrial haplotype. Two similar but unique haplotypes belonging to haplogroup H1bu were identified, and samples from these bones were subjected to autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sequencing. Although only partial profiles were obtained, the data were sufficient for kinship analysis with the profile of a paternal niece of Sister Marija (Fides Kozulić). The data indicate that it is 574,195-fold more likely that the two sets of skeletal remains represent 2nd-degree relatives of Fides than sisters who are unrelated to Fides. Although it is impossible to discern which set of remains belongs to Marija and which belongs to Tereza, forensic genomics methods have enabled identification of the sisters.
Highlights
Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a pious and generous nun from Croatia who Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a pious and generous nun from Croatia who dedicated her life to helping the poor and less fortunate (Figure 1)
FASTQ files produced by MiSeq Reporter from the Precision ID short tandem repeat (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Illumina sequencing were analyzed in the Parabon Fx Forensic Analysis Platform (Parabon Nanolabs; Reston, VA, USA)
It is of note that neither of these two femoral bone samples could be sided during the anthropological analysis, indicating poor gross preservation of the bone that coincided with the poor DNA quality
Summary
Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a pious and generous nun from Croatia who Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922) was a pious and generous nun from Croatia who dedicated her life to helping the poor and less fortunate (Figure 1). The transfer of bones from deteriorated coffins to these plastic bags was most in 2006, when the tomb was reorganized to make room for newly buried remains. The plastic bags should have contained the remains persons, based on the total number of known burials in the tomb. In an attempt to identify the remains of Sister Marija, DNA analysis was performed on the unidentified skeletal remains from the tomb. Once the remains of putative maternal relatives two known to be buried in the tomb were Sister Marija and Sister Tereza. Putative maternal relatives were found, autosomal DNA testing was performed to confirm the This two-step approach to DNA testing of the historical remains allowed for an initial assessment of suspected sibling relationship. DNA evidence that can be used in the identification of Sisters Marija and Tereza
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