Were OTMA carriers of Hemophilia?

[Mark_Chicago]

Do we know if the daughters of Nicholas II would have been carriers of hemophilia?  I am wondering if the testing of their remains would have revealed this?

[GDSophie]

Yes; one of the two youngest girls, Maria or Anastasia, were carriers. Olga and Tatiana were free of it.

[Mark_Chicago]

Thanks—where was this reported?

In a specific book or magazine article?

Thanks

[GDSophie]

Article I believe?

The news it was Haemophilia B only came out in 2008 when they published the results of the remains found in the second grave. It was not 100% known beforehand so it didn't appear as 'definite, concrete fact' in any book before that year.

[DNAgenie]

The original scientific article was published at https://science.sciencemag.org/content/326/5954/817.abstract . There is a summary at https://web.archive.org/web/20091012020300/http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/1008/2 .

[Mark_Chicago]

Thank you both.

[Marie-Catherine]

I should try to find the source of this, but beside this scientific evidence, it is said to be Maria probably had the gene - I really need to find the primary source on this, but it was said that Maria bled a lot more than most when she had a surgery (tonsils removal? My memory isn't great at the moment), so it was assumed she may have had the gene.

[GDSophie]

I should try to find the source of this, but beside this scientific evidence, it is said to be Maria probably had the gene - I really need to find the primary source on this, but it was said that Maria bled a lot more than most when she had a surgery (tonsils removal? My memory isn't great at the moment), so it was assumed she may have had the gene.

Yes, but as we'll never know 100% which body belongs to which girl it could be it could be either two things; 1) Maria was the carrier or 2) Anastasia was the carrier and the reason Maria reportedly hemorrhaged was because her Factor IX level was low, as they can vary from person to person. It doesn't necessarily mean they will have haemophilia or carry it either - it just means they're more likely to hemorrhage during things like operations or surgeries.