East Asia harbors substantial genetic, physical, cultural and linguistic diversity, but the detailed structures and interrelationships of those aspects remain enigmatic. This question has begun to be addressed...
The presence of a southeast to northwest gradient across Europe in human genetic diversity is a well-established observation and has recently been confirmed by genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) ...
Authors: Oscar Lao, Eveline Altena, Christian Becker, Silke Brauer, Thirsa Kraaijenbrink, Mannis van Oven, Peter Nürnberg, Peter de Knijff and Manfred Kayser
The success of forensic DNA analysis is limited by the size, quality and purity of biological evidence found at crime scenes. Sample impurities can inhibit PCR, resulting in partial or negative DNA profiles. V...
Authors: Lina Norén, Ronny Hedell, Ricky Ansell and Johannes Hedman
Ribonucleic acids (RNA) are generally considered fragile molecules that are readily degraded. However, there is growing documentation of long-term (from days to centuries) RNA persistence in a variety of conte...
Authors: Sarah L Fordyce, Marie-Louise Kampmann, Nienke L van Doorn and M Thomas P Gilbert
Wild animals’ meat is extensively consumed in South Africa, being obtained either from ranching, farming or hunting. To test the authenticity of the commercial labels of meat products in the local market, we o...
Authors: Maria Eugenia D’Amato, Evguenia Alechine, Kevin Wesley Cloete, Sean Davison and Daniel Corach
DNA analysis of ancient skeletal remains is invaluable in evolutionary biology for exploring the history of species, including humans. Contemporary human bones and teeth, however, are relevant in forensic DNA ...
Authors: Jolanta Draus-Barini, Susan Walsh, Ewelina Pośpiech, Tomasz Kupiec, Henryk Głąb, Wojciech Branicki and Manfred Kayser
Kokshoorn and Blankers responded to our recent article by saying that replicate analysis and consensus profiling of low template samples was best in terms of reliability and objectivity. We agree that the cons...
In a recent contribution to this journal Grisedale and Van Daal concluded that a single STR analysis of all available template DNA is to be preferred over replicate analyses and a consensus approach when analy...
Profiling sperm DNA present on vaginal swabs taken from rape victims often contributes to identifying and incarcerating rapists. Large amounts of the victim’s epithelial cells contaminate the sperm present on ...
Authors: Alex M Garvin, Andrea Fischer, Jutta Schnee-Griese, Andrea Jelinski, Michel Bottinelli, Gianni Soldati, Monica Tubio, Vincent Castella, Nathalie Monney, Naseem Malik and Michelle Madrid
ADH1B is one of the most studied human genes with many polymorphic sites. One of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs1229984, coding for the Arg48His substitution, have been associated with many serious d...
Authors: Yan Lu, Longli Kang, Kang Hu, Chuanchao Wang, Xiaoji Sun, Feng Chen, Judith R Kidd, Kenneth K Kidd and Hui Li
Aboriginal Australians, one of the world’s indigenous peoples now outnumbered through colonization, are the most under-represented in genetic research because they feel that the benefits do not outweigh the so...
India is known for its vast human diversity, consisting of more than four and a half thousand anthropologically well-defined populations. Each population differs in terms of language, culture, physical feature...
To investigate the potential association between oral health and cognitive function, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate high throughput DNA sequencing of the V3 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene for de...
Authors: Andrew F Cockburn, Jonathan M Dehlin, Tiffany Ngan, Richard Crout, Goran Boskovic, James Denvir, Donald Primerano, Brenda L Plassman, Bei Wu and Christopher F Cuff
Online tools and databases based on multi-allelic short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRPs) are actively used in forensic teaching, research, and investigations. The Fst value of each CODIS marker tends to be ...
Authors: Haseena Rajeevan, Usha Soundararajan, Andrew J Pakstis and Kenneth K Kidd
Illegal hunting is one of the major threats to vertebrate populations in tropical regions. This unsustainable practice has serious consequences not only for the target populations, but also for the dynamics an...
Authors: Alexandra Sanches, Paola M Tokumoto, Wellington AM Peres, Fernando L Nunes, Mariana ST Gotardi, Carolina S Carvalho, Cristiane Pelizzon, Tamissa G Godoi and Mauro Galetti
The ‘database search problem’, that is, the strengthening of a case - in terms of probative value - against an individual who is found as a result of a database search, has been approached during the last two ...
Authors: Alex Biedermann, Joëlle Vuille and Franco Taroni
The consensus profiling method was introduced to overcome the exaggerated stochastic effects associated with low copy number DNA typing. However, little empirical evidence has been provided which shows that a ...
Mitochondrial DNA analysis is typically applied to degraded skeletal remains and telogen or rootless hairs. Data on the application of the method to very small hairs less than 0.5 cm from an age-matched and -c...
Authors: Terry Melton, Gloria Dimick, Bonnie Higgins, Michele Yon and Charity Holland
The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon increased the concern about the potential for terrorist attacks on many vulnerable sectors of the US, including agriculture. The concen...
Authors: Stephanie M Rogers, Mark Payton, Robert W Allen, Ulrich Melcher, Jesse Carver and Jacqueline Fletcher
Traditional PCR methods for forensic STR genotyping require approximately 2.5 to 4 hours to complete, contributing a significant portion of the time required to process forensic DNA samples. The purpose of thi...
Prior probabilities represent a core element of the Bayesian probabilistic approach to relatedness testing. This letter opinions on the commentary Use of prior odds for missing persons identifications by Budowle ...
Authors: Alex Biedermann, Franco Taroni and Pierre Margot
Recently, the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Core Loci Working Group established by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reviewed and recommended changes to the CODIS core loci. The Working Group id...
Authors: Jianye Ge, Arthur Eisenberg and Bruce Budowle
Numerous genome-wide scans conducted by genotyping previously ascertained single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have provided candidate signatures for positive selection in various regions of the human genome...
Authors: Johanna Maria de Gruijter, Oscar Lao, Mark Vermeulen, Yali Xue, Cara Woodwark, Christopher J Gillson, Alison J Coffey, Qasim Ayub, S Qasim Mehdi, Manfred Kayser and Chris Tyler-Smith
Rapid advances in the development of sequencing technologies in recent years have enabled an increasing number of applications in biology and medicine. Here, we review key technical aspects of the preparation ...
Authors: Eva C Berglund, Anna Kiialainen and Ann-Christine Syvänen
In the United States, several states have made policy decisions regarding whether and how to use familial searching of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database in criminal investigations. Familial search...
Authors: Joyce Kim, Danny Mammo, Marni B Siegel and Sara H Katsanis
For much of the 20th century the fate of the last Imperial family of Russia, the Romanovs, was a mystery after their execution in 1918. In the mid 1970s the mass grave of the Romanov family (minus two of the chil...
Disaster victim identification (DVI) represents one of the most difficult challenges in forensic sciences, and subsequent DNA typing is essential. Collected samples for DNA-based human identification are usual...
Authors: Mariela Caputo, Luis A Bosio and Daniel Corach
The ability to accurately identify bird species is crucial for wildlife law enforcement and bird-strike investigations. However, such identifications may be challenging when only partial or damaged feathers ar...
Authors: Camilla F Speller, George P Nicholas and Dongya Y Yang
Identification of missing persons from mass disasters is based on evaluation of a number of variables and observations regarding the combination of features derived from these variables. DNA typing now is play...
Authors: Bruce Budowle, Jianye Ge, Ranajit Chakraborty and Harrell Gill-King
