October 8, 2008
forensic dna and surnames
DNA can predict the surname of male suspects.
A study of 2,500 men found that on average there was a 24 percent chance of two men with the same surname sharing a common ancestor but this increased to nearly 50 percent when the surname was rare.
Over 70 percent of men with surnames such as Attenborough and Swindlehurst shared the same or near identical Y chromosome types.
“The fact that such a strong link exists between surname and Y chromosome type has a potential use in forensic science, since it suggests that, given large databases of names and Y chromosome profiles, surname prediction from DNA alone may be feasible,” said Turi King, who will present her research at a lecture on Wednesday.
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