Breslin,K.; Wills,B.; Ralf,A.; VentayolGarcia,M.; Kukla-Bartoszek,M.; Pospiech,E.; Freire-Aradas,A.; Xavier,C.; Ingold,S.; deLaPuente,M.; vanderGaag,K.J.; Herrick,N.; Haas,C.; Parson,W.; Phillips,C.; Sijen,T.; Branicki,W.; Walsh,S.; Kayser,M.; Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP) provides the ability to predict externally visible characteristics from minute amounts of crime scene DNA, which can help find unknown perpetrators who are typically unidentifiable via conventional forensic DNA profiling. Fundamental human genetics research has led to a better understanding of the specific DNA variants responsible for physical appearance characteristics, particularly eye, hair, and skin color. [Read More]

Phillips,C.; McNevin,D.; Kidd,K.K.; Lagace,R.; Wootton,S.; delaPuente,M.; Freire-Aradas,A.; Mosquera-Miguel,A.; Eduardoff,M.; Gross,T.; Dagostino,L.; Power,D.; Olson,S.; Hashiyada,M.; Oz,C.; Parson,W.; Schneider,P.M.; Lareu,M.V.; Daniel,R.; Current forensic ancestry-informative panels are limited in their ability to differentiate populations in the Asia-Pacific region. MAPlex (Multiplex for the Asia-Pacific), a massively parallel sequencing (MPS) assay, was developed to improve differentiation of East Asian, South Asian and Near Oceanian populations found in the extensive cross-continental Asian region that shows complex patterns of admixture at its margins. [Read More]

Barrio,P.A.; Martin,P.; Alonso,A.; Müller,P.; Bodner,M.; Berger,B.; Parson,W.; Budowle,B.; DnaseqexConsortium; This study reports Short Tandem Repeat (STR) sequence-based allele data from 496 Spanish individuals across 31 autosomal STR (auSTR) loci included in the Precision ID GlobalFiler NGS STR Panel v2: D12S391, D13S317, D8S1179, D21S11, D3S1358, D5S818, D1S1656, D2S1338, vWA, D2S441, D5S2800, D7S820, D16S539, D6S474, D12ATA63, D4S2408, D6S1043, D19S433, D14S1434, CSF1PO, D10S1248, D18S51, D1S1677, D22S1045, D2S1776, D3S4529, FGA, Penta D, Penta E, TH01 and TPOX. [Read More]

Bus,M.M.; Lembring,M.; Kjellstrom,A.; Strobl,C.; Zimmermann,B.; Parson,W.; Allen,M.; In 1998, a Viking Age mass grave was discovered and excavated at St. Laurence s churchyard in Sigtuna, Sweden. The excavated bones underwent osteoarchaeological analysis and were assigned to at least 19 individuals. Eleven skeletons showed sharp force trauma from bladed weapons. Mass graves are an unusual finding from this time period, making the burial context extraordinary. To investigate a possible maternal kinship among the individuals, bones and teeth from the skeletal remains were selected for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. [Read More]

Zimmermann,B.; Sturk-Andreaggi,K.; Huber,N.; Xavier,C.; Saunier,J.; Tahir,M.; Chouery,E.; Jalkh,N.; Megarbane,A.; Bodner,M.; Coble,M.; Irwin,J.; Parsons,T.; Parson,W.; This study investigated the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region variation in Middle Eastern populations (610 individuals from Lebanon, Jordan and the Kingdom of Bahrain) for which population data are scarce. FST comparison among populations revealed that there are significant differences in mtDNA distributions between Bahrain and the two other populations, while Lebanon and Jordan showed no significant differences. [Read More]