Reconstruction of appearance by DNA
The first DNA chip has been developed that gives detailed information about the suspect
Dmitry Tselikov, CompulentaImagine yourself as a detective.
Burglary. The only clue is a cigarette butt. There's enough DNA on it to run a national database search, but there's no match. You rush to a device that can determine physical characteristics based on DNA, but there is only enough material for two traits (usually eye and hair color).
In such a case, a chip would help, which would have enough of a small sample to determine several characteristics at once. And such a device has just been invented. Identitas v1 Forensic Chip allows you to get data about gender, eye and hair color, as well as about ancestors. The author of the first of its kind chip was the association of universities and law enforcement agencies VisiGen (Netherlands).
The chip contains hundreds of thousands of short DNA sequences that bind to various single–nucleotide polymorphisms (ONPS) - "single-letter" variations in DNA sequences.
It is the SNPs (usually called snips in Russian, from single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs – VM) that reflect physical traits, so their presence allows you to calculate the possible appearance and pedigree of a person.
The device has been tested on more than 3 thousand DNA samples from around the world. The accuracy in determining the sex was 99%. The European and East Asian origin of the "criminal" was predicted with an accuracy of 97%, African – up to 88%. Alas, blonde hair could be guessed only in 63% of cases.
In short, the tool will not be able to play a key role in the judicial process, but will be of great help during the investigation (when all other possibilities are exhausted), and will also be useful in identifying victims of disasters (for example, railway). Of course, work is already underway on a more solid version.
The results of the study (Keating et al., First all-in-one diagnostic tool for DNA intelligence: genome-wide inference of biogeographic ancestry, appearance, relatedness, and sex with the Identitas v1 Forensic Chip) are published in open access in the International Journal of Legal Medicine.
Prepared by NewScientist: DNA 'identihip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect.
And one more piece of news on the same topic: just 24 snips can determine the color of the eyes and hair of people who died tens or even thousands of years ago
As the Tape writes.<url>, a Polish-Dutch group of geneticists has learned to restore the color of human eyes and hair based on the analysis of ancient DNA. The researchers' work has been accepted for publication in the journal Investigative Genetics, and its summary (What did our ancestors look like?) you can read it on the publication's website.
In the new study, scientists applied a method originally intended for forensic medical examination. It involves the analysis of 24 genetic polymorphisms – single variations in DNA that correlate with the color of a person's eyes and hair.
Scientists have shown that using the method they developed, it is possible to analyze not only modern nucleic acid samples, but also ancient DNA.
So, as an illustration of the possibilities of the method, the authors analyzed the DNA of Vladislav Sikorsky, a Polish general and head of the Polish government in exile. Sikorsky (photo from Wikipedia) he turned out to be a blue-eyed blond.
More difficult to study DNA samples were obtained from the bones of an unknown woman buried in the 12th-14th centuries in the walls of a Benedictine abbey near Krakow. The analysis revealed that the woman had dark hair and brown eyes. Studies over the past few years have shown that the color of eyes and hair is determined somewhat more difficult than previously thought by geneticists. To date, it is known that at least 16 genes are involved in its regulation, the main of which are considered to be located on the fifteenth chromosome HERC2 and OCA2. Polymorphisms in their sequence have the most significant effect on the color of the iris.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru14.01.2013