SGER: Testing Hypothesized Organic Bases for Darwin's Chronic Illness with Molecular Genetic Methods

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Charles Darwin suffered from ill health for most of his adult life, and never knew the cause. Historians have speculated about Darwin's illness, which kept him from social occasions with friends and family, limited his travels and field research, and perhaps thereby contributed to his concentration, creativity and productivity. Among the possible causes of Darwin's debilitation are Chagas's disease (caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi), lupus, porphyria, and depression. The main task of this Small Grant for Exploratory Research is to conduct DNA tests on `ancient` DNA left by Darwin on postage stamps, in notebooks, and elsewhere, and perhaps also to test material from contemporaries, from descendents, and from animal specimens Darwin gathered, to determine the source of his nearly life-long illness. The PI will seek the specimens in various locations, engaging the help of curators, Darwin experts, and relatives in various ways that are explained in the proposal. He will then attempt to secure DNA samples from these materials, use PCR to amplify them, and compare the sequences against know sequences for the various candidate diseases. Historians have long speculated about Darwin's affliction, yet none has the ability to conduct the necessary tests.