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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGenetic mugshot recreates faces from nothing but DNA
It's already possible to make some inferences about the appearance of crime suspects from their DNA alone, including their racial ancestry and some shades of hair colour. And in 2012, a team led by Manfred Kayser of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, identified five genetic variants with detectable effects on facial shape. It was a start, but still a long way from reliable genetic photofits.
To take the idea a step further, a team led by population geneticist Mark Shriver of Pennsylvania State University and imaging specialist Peter Claes of the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium used a stereoscopic camera to capture 3D images of almost 600 volunteers from populations with mixed European and West African ancestry. Because people from Europe and Africa tend to have differently shaped faces, studying people with mixed ancestry increased the chances of finding genetic variants affecting facial structure.
Kayser's study had looked for genes that affected the relative positions of nine facial "landmarks", including the middle of each eyeball and the tip of the nose. By contrast, Claes and Shriver superimposed a mesh of more than 7000 points onto the scanned 3D images and recorded the precise location of each point. They also developed a statistical model to consider how genes, sex and racial ancestry affect the position of these points and therefore the overall shape of the face.
Next the researchers tested each of the volunteers for 76 genetic variants in genes that were already known to cause facial abnormalities when mutated. They reasoned that normal variation in genes that can cause such problems might have a subtle effect on the shape of the face. After using their model to control for the effects of sex and ancestry, they found 24 variants in 20 different genes that seemed to be useful predictors of facial shape (PLoS Genetics, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004224).
Reconstructions based on these variants alone aren't yet ready for routine use by crime labs, the researchers admit. Still, Shriver is already working with police to see if the method can help find the perpetrator in two cases of serial rape in Pennsylvania, for which police are desperate for new clues.
To take the idea a step further, a team led by population geneticist Mark Shriver of Pennsylvania State University and imaging specialist Peter Claes of the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium used a stereoscopic camera to capture 3D images of almost 600 volunteers from populations with mixed European and West African ancestry. Because people from Europe and Africa tend to have differently shaped faces, studying people with mixed ancestry increased the chances of finding genetic variants affecting facial structure.
Kayser's study had looked for genes that affected the relative positions of nine facial "landmarks", including the middle of each eyeball and the tip of the nose. By contrast, Claes and Shriver superimposed a mesh of more than 7000 points onto the scanned 3D images and recorded the precise location of each point. They also developed a statistical model to consider how genes, sex and racial ancestry affect the position of these points and therefore the overall shape of the face.
Next the researchers tested each of the volunteers for 76 genetic variants in genes that were already known to cause facial abnormalities when mutated. They reasoned that normal variation in genes that can cause such problems might have a subtle effect on the shape of the face. After using their model to control for the effects of sex and ancestry, they found 24 variants in 20 different genes that seemed to be useful predictors of facial shape (PLoS Genetics, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004224).
Reconstructions based on these variants alone aren't yet ready for routine use by crime labs, the researchers admit. Still, Shriver is already working with police to see if the method can help find the perpetrator in two cases of serial rape in Pennsylvania, for which police are desperate for new clues.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129613.600-genetic-mugshot-recreates-faces-from-nothing-but-dna.html
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Genetic mugshot recreates faces from nothing but DNA (Original Post)
FarCenter
Mar 2014
OP
If facial structure depends on genes, won't people who look the same have similar genes?
DireStrike
Mar 2014
#5
CFLDem
(2,083 posts)1. I think this deserves a
eShirl
(18,479 posts)3. I hadn't seen that one yet
thanks
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)2. Another tool for the tool box of identification....
from sketch artist to science.
JJChambers
(1,115 posts)4. Awesome tool
I love when technology meets science meets law enforcement!
DireStrike
(6,452 posts)5. If facial structure depends on genes, won't people who look the same have similar genes?
This is far, far from being used as an identification tool.
Also, if you have a DNA sample, can't you just match that instead?
eggplant
(3,908 posts)6. It helps to put a face to the perpetrator, or help identify them.
If they find them, they can confirm it (or exclude him) with a DNA comparison.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)8. Similar, but not the same genes, unless they are identical twins.
progressoid
(49,945 posts)7. ...