DNA Phenotyping: The Future of Forensics?
Genetic genealogy has shaken the world of criminal investigation, and now it looks as though DNA phenotyping may do the same.
In 2018, law enforcement officials in California made an astonishing announcement. They had caught the Golden State Killer, more than four decades after he terrorized, raped and killed residents of Sacramento and beyond.
What was more, they had done it using a new type of forensic technology: genetic genealogy, a pioneering DNA tracing method that uses genetic databases to find relatives of unknown subjects.
From these matches, detectives were able to work backwards through traditional family trees to work out who might reasonably have been their killer based on factors such as age, location, birth and marriage certificates.
Now, it looks as though another crime-fighting tool might be set to increase in importance for police: genetic genealogy’s cousin, DNA phenotyping. However, as we’ll see below, it is not without its controversies.
What is DNA phenotyping?
DNA phenotyping, also known as forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP), is a method of predicting a person’s physical characteristics using only genetic information gleaned from…
