Free Republic

...the idea behind the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project, which aims to accurately answer a simple question: since we couldn't sequence Leonardo's DNA in the 1500s, are his bones at Amboise Castle really his?To get there, the team plans to compare DNA from Leonardo's remains with profiles from his living relatives -- and, if the samples check out, assemble more of Leonardo's genome.Because the legendary Renaissance artist had no children, researchers Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato of the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association started with old-school genealogy, publishing Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA. Their tree follows...

Paper offers foundation to advance search for Leonardo’s DNA. Leonardo Da Vinci: New family tree spans 21 generations, 690 years, finds 14 living male descendants. The surprising results of a decade-long investigation by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato provide a strong basis for advancing a project researching Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA. Their extensive study, published by the journal “Human Evolution” (Pontecorboli Editore, Florence), documents with new certainty the continuous male line, from father to son, of the Da Vinci family (later Vinci), from progenitor Michele (born 1331) to grandson Leonardo (6th generation, born 1452) through to today — 21 generations...