Relevance of Genetic Identification and Kinship Analysis in Human and Natural Catastrophes—A Review
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Different types of disasters, whether natural or human character, lead to the significant loss of human lives. In the latter case, the quick action of identification of corpses and human remains is mandatory. There are a variety of protocols to identify victims, however, genetics is one of the tools that allow an exact identification of the victim. However, several factors may interfere with this identification, from the biological samples’ degradation not allowing the analysis of nuclear information, to failure to dispose of biological samples from family members. Access to certain family members could be a determinant of the proper choice of genetic markers that allow the identification of the victim, or his/her inclusion in a given genetic maternal or paternal lineage. With the new advances in the genetic field, it is expected to allow soon the identification of victims from disasters only with his/her biological postmortem samples, being possible to draw a robot portrait and its most likely physical characteristics. In all cases, genetics is the only modern tool with universal character and can be used in essentially all biological samples, giving and identification of more or less accurate statistical character, depending on whether nuclear or lineage markers are used.
Source: Genealogy
Authors: Alejandra Real-Picado, Luis Diaz, Cláudia Gomes
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,335
OpenAlex ID: W4382583520