DNA Commission of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG): Recommendations regarding the role of forensic genetics for disaster victim identification (DVI)

Prinz, Mechthild; Carracedo, Ángel; Mayr, Wolfgang R.; Morling, Niels; Parsons, Thomas J.; Sajantila, Antti; Scheithauer, R; Schmitter, H.; Schneider, Peter M.

doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2006.10.003

Cited by 312 publications

(210 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Not all types of animal bone preserve DNA equally well, and significantly higher proportions of endogenous DNA have been found in dense and heavy bone types such as the petrous bone (50)(51)(52). It is presumed that it is the high density of the bone that leads to reduced bacterial and chemical-mediated decay and improved DNA preservation (50,53). This hypothesis would suggest that fish bones-that are porous, brittle and light-should be a poor source of DNA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

Star

Boessenkool

Gondek

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

115

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Knowledge of the range and chronology of historic trade and long-distance transport of natural resources is essential for determining the impacts of past human activities on marine environments. However, the specific biological sources of imported fauna are often difficult to identify, in particular if species have a wide spatial distribution and lack clear osteological or isotopic differentiation between populations. Here, we report that ancient fishbone remains, despite being porous, brittle, and light, provide an excellent source of endogenous DNA (15-46%) of sufficient quality for whole-genome reconstruction. By comparing ancient sequence data to that of modern specimens, we determine the biological origin of 15 Viking Age (800-1066 CE) and subsequent medieval (1066-1280 CE) Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) specimens from excavation sites in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Archaeological context indicates that one of these sites was a fishing settlement for the procurement of local catches, whereas the other localities were centers of trade. Fish from the trade sites show a mixed ancestry and are statistically differentiated from local fish populations. Moreover, Viking Age samples from Haithabu, Germany, are traced back to the North East Arctic Atlantic cod population that has supported the Lofoten fisheries of Norway for centuries. Our results resolve a long-standing controversial hypothesis and indicate that the marine resources of the North Atlantic Ocean were used to sustain an international demand for protein as far back as the Viking Age.genomics | high-throughput sequencing | trade | chromosomal inversion | fish bone

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

Star

Boessenkool

Gondek

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

115

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“…During the ensuing 30 years after return of democracy, the ethical, legal and social-political issues surrounding the genetic identification of victims of abduction by the military turned out to be much more complex and nuanced than the technical issues. While forensic genetics became standardized, automated and quite straightforward (Prinz et al 2007;ICRC 2009), the ethical and legal issues unveiled unprecedented social complexities which included (a) the influence on public opinion of a generally conservative mass media which favoured the status quo and only recently began to support the search for, and establishing the identities of, victims of appropriation; (b) the lack of independence of the judicial system, where many judges appointed by the military were still in function and (c) the life experiences of those who had their true identity restored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The database became DNA-based and automatized, in the early 1990s, and in 2009, Congress put the BNDG under the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and Technology, raising its scientific and ethical standards (MINCYT 2014). Over the past 30 years, the BNDG applied standard forensic genetics techniques (Prinz et al 2007;ICRC 2009) and has identified 116 individuals appropriated at birth or as small children by the military, enabling the restoration of their true genetic identity. This was deemed positive when the inclusion probability of an individual with unknown identity of being a grandchild of putative grandparents was 99.9 % or higher.…”

Section: Bioethics and Genetics In Argentina After The Return Of Demomentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical, legal and social issues in restoring genetic identity after forced disappearance and suppression of identity in Argentina

Penchaszadeh

2015

J Community Genet

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Human genetic identification has been increasingly associated with the preservation, defence and reparation of human rights, in particular the right to genetic identity. The Argentinian military dictatorship of 1976-1983 engaged in a savage repression and egregious violations of human rights, including forced disappearance, torture, assassination and appropriation of children of the disappeared with suppression of their identity. The ethical, legal and social nuances in the use of forensic genetics to support the right to identity in Argentina included issues such as the best interest of children being raised by criminals, the right to learn the truth of one's origin and identity, rights of their biological families, the issue of voluntary versus compulsory testing of victims, as well as the duty of the state to investigate crimes against humanity, punish perpetrators and provide justice and reparation to the victims. In the 30 years following the return to democracy in 1984, the search, localization and DNA testing of disappeared children and young adults has led, so far, to the genetic identification of 116 persons who had been abducted as babies. The high value placed on DNA testing to identify victims of identity suppression did not conflict with the social consensus that personal identity is a complex and dynamic concept, attained by the interaction of genetics with historical, social, emotional, educational, cultural and other important environmental factors. The use of genetic identification as a tool to redress and repair human rights violations is a novel application of human genetics within a developing set of ethical and political circumstances.

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“…Here we expand on victim identification, making the simplifying assumption that there is no commingling of remains so that we are solely attempting to make identifications. Rather than working directly with posterior probabilities as in the previous section, we will work with likelihood ratios and prior odds as this is much more common in the disaster victim and personal identification literature (Goodwin et al, 1999;Adams, 2003b;Brenner and Weir, 2003;Alonso et al, 2005;Christensen, 2005;Lin et al, 2006;Steadman et al, 2006;Prinz et al, 2007;Kaye, 2009;Budowle et al, 2011;Butler, 2011;Hartman et al, 2011;Abraham et al, 2012;Montelius and Lindblom, 2012;Jackson and Black, 2013). As mentioned above, likelihood ratios from DNA are typically reported as the inverse of the population frequency for the matched (between ante-mortem and post-mortem) genotype, although this is only possible when a "direct reference" ante-mortem sample is available (so that the numerator is equal to 1.0).…”

Section: Identification In a "Closed Population" Mass Disastermentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayes in biological anthropology

Konigsberg

Frankenberg

2013

American J Phys Anthropol

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In this article, we both contend and illustrate that biological anthropologists, particularly in the Americas, often think like Bayesians but act like frequentists when it comes to analyzing a wide variety of data. In other words, while our research goals and perspectives are rooted in probabilistic thinking and rest on prior knowledge, we often proceed to use statistical hypothesis tests and confidence interval methods unrelated (or tenuously related) to the research questions of interest. We advocate for applying Bayesian analyses to a number of different bioanthropological questions, especially since many of the programming and computational challenges to doing so have been overcome in the past two decades. To facilitate such applications, this article explains Bayesian principles and concepts, and provides concrete examples of Bayesian computer simulations and statistics that address questions relevant to biological anthropology, focusing particularly on bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology. It also simultaneously reviews the use of Bayesian methods and inference within the discipline to date. This article is intended to act as primer to Bayesian methods and inference in biological anthropology, explaining the relationships of various methods to likelihoods or probabilities and to classical statistical models. Our contention is not that traditional frequentist statistics should be rejected outright, but that there are many situations where biological anthropology is better served by taking a Bayesian approach. To this end it is hoped that the examples provided in this article will assist researchers in choosing from among the broad array of statistical methods currently available. Am J Phys Anthropol 57: 2013. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc."The Bayesian approach can have a clarifying effect on one's thinking about evidence." (Koehler and Saks, 1991, p 364) Traditional training in statistical methods for those who go on to become practicing biological anthropologists has focused primarily on classical hypothesis testing. This is apparent in both textbooks geared toward anthropologists in general (Thomas, 1986;Madrigal, 1998;Bernard, 2011) and specialized texts for biological anthropologists (Slice, 2005;D'Aoãut and Vereecke, 2011). While Bayes' Theorem may be mentioned in passing in introductory statistics courses, this is typically restricted to examples of such limited interest that the student has little motivation to recall the theorem, and even less motivation to assume that there may be future value in having learned about Bayes' Theorem. In Bayesian terms, the prior probability that the student will retain Bayes' Theorem is quite low. In contrast, the student and eventual practitioner is likely to learn about confidence intervals, Type I and Type II errors in hypothesis testing, and P-values, and to blithely assume that what they have learned represents the near totality of what is available and useful within modern statistical practice. This represents an unfortunate omission of Ba...

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DNA Commission of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG): Recommendations regarding the role of forensic genetics for disaster victim identification (DVI)

Cited by 312 publications

References 25 publications

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany

Ethical, legal and social issues in restoring genetic identity after forced disappearance and suppression of identity in Argentina

Bayes in biological anthropology

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