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

查尔斯达尔文在他成年后的大部分时间里都饱受疾病的折磨，而且从来不知道原因。 历史学家推测，达尔文的疾病使他无法与朋友和家人进行社交活动，限制了他的旅行和实地研究，也许因此有助于他的注意力，创造力和生产力。 达尔文衰弱的可能原因包括恰加斯病（由寄生虫克氏锥虫引起）、狼疮、卟啉症和抑郁症。 这项探索性研究小额资助的主要任务是对达尔文在邮票、笔记本和其他地方留下的“古代”DNA进行DNA测试，也许还测试来自同时代人、后代和达尔文收集的动物标本的材料，以确定他几乎终身患病的根源。 PI将在不同的地点寻找标本，以提案中解释的各种方式寻求馆长、达尔文专家和亲属的帮助。 然后，他将尝试从这些材料中获取DNA样本，使用PCR扩增它们，并将这些序列与各种候选疾病的已知序列进行比较。历史学家一直在推测达尔文的痛苦，但没有人有能力进行必要的测试。

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.