Did Giovanni dalle Bande Nere become a legendary condottiero because of his MAOA gene?

We einvestigatedthelegendaryReinassancecondottieroGiovanni Dalle Bande Nere (1498–1526) by extracting DNA from a fragment of his left femur,obtained by on e of the authors (GF), who performed the body exhumation and examination. MAOA genotyping was performed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification. The size of the product was estimated by comparison with two samples with known genotypes. Giovanni dalle Bande Nere carried the MAOA2-repeat Low-activity allele very rare variant, found only in 0.1% of Caucasian males. We propose that the association between the rare genetic variant resulting in a reduced MAOA activity and the neglecting childhood environment may have significantly contributed to Giovanni's impressive aggressive behavior.