Introduction. Forensic Dna Phenotyping Is A New And Emerging

Introduction Forensic DNA Phenotyping is a new and emerging field of forensic science. As it is so new, there is very little in terms of literature on this field, very little testing done on this type of identification, and few cases that have used DNA Phenotyping to assist in the investigation. The first documented case of DNA Phenotyping being used is in the early 2000s, so it has had under 20 years of research and experimentation with it. There are many weaknesses to the version of DNA Phenotyping that is available for use so far, but once there is more research done on it, and more experimentation with this new science, DNA Phenotyping could easily be a major tool to investigators around the world. Description of Science Forensic†¦show more content†¦Eye colour, or more specifically iris colour, is determined by pigments. The type, distribution, and amount of pigments in the iris is what gives colour. The hue and saturation of the iris colour are extremely highly correlated, which points to a biological explanation. Blue and brown eyes are genetically recessive, which means they can be predicted using DNA (Liu et al, 2010). When analyzing DNA, the analysts create a DNA profile for each evidentiary piece of DNA. The DNA profile is based on 13 markers, or locations, within the genome. These 13 markers are chosen because they show a high variability between individuals. By using these 13 markers, the probability of 2 individuals having the exact same 13 markers is infinitesimal. But DNA profiles as they are now are made for identification purposes only. The profiles are not meant to contain personal genetic information (Matheson, 2016). But through the work of Susan Walsh, together with colleagues in the Netherlands, they have been able to create models for eye colour and hair colour. For the model on eye colour, they have a 95% accurate predictability rate, but only for brown and blue eyes. They have not done as extensive of work on the other colours of eyes. For the model on hair colour, they have a 90%