Sunday, 17 November 2019

molecular biology - Can forensic DNA analysis be used to generate a visual approximation of a suspect?


In light of the current US supreme court case, I'm curious if enough information can be teased out of a DNA sample to get a "reasonable" approximation of the suspect (never mind the legality). I realize the term reasonable is subjective, so characteristics, such as skin color, hair color/texture, approx height, eye color, freckles, etc. I came across this article a few years ago, but the company that made the test went bust in 2009. It could detect race (how accurately?). I seem to recall reading an article a few years ago stating that "soon" we'd be able to get an approximation of appearance from a DNA sample that was better than a sketch artist could provide, though I can't recall now where I read it.




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