Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

DNA makes an appearance

Nature Biotechnology volume 36, pages 14–17 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

How much can genome variation reveal about the appearance of an individual? Laura DeFrancesco investigates the field of molecular photofitting.

Technology developed by Yaniv Erlich and his colleagues at Columbia University in New York and the NY Genome Center might be edging us closer to this scenario. Last month, his group described a technique for rapidly identifying individuals from DNA using a portable device3. In under an hour (and just three minutes of sequencing time), they picked people out of a database of 31,000 genomes using a collection of 30–600 random single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using UK biotech Oxford Nanopore's MinION, which is the size of a USB drive. Although as yet, Erlich's group makes no claim that their system will work in forensic applications, it doesn't take a huge leap to see how such a system might be implemented in the real world, including in forensic applications. DNA may soon not only be matching suspects but also putting them in the picture.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Lippert, C. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 10166–10171 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. 4th General Assembly, San Francisco, 3 June 2017 http://bit.ly/2p3gKfB

  3. Zaaijer, S. et al. eLife 6, e27798 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Associated Press. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/03/dna-sketch-leads-to-suspect-confession-in-texas-slaying.html (3 December 2017).

  5. Shriver, M. Nat. Genet. (in the press).

  6. Liu, F. et al. Curr. Biol. 19, R192–R193 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Walsh, S. et al. Genetics 9, 150–161 (2014).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Walsh, S. et al. Hum. Genet. 136, 847–863 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Liu, F. et al. Hum. Genet. 133, 587–597 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Adhikari, K. et al. Nat. Commun. 7, 10815 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Liu, F. et al. Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 24, 895–902 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hagenaars, S.P. et al. PLoS Genet. 13, e1006594 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Horvath, S. Genome Biol. 14, R115 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Erlich, Y. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/185330 (2017).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Editor,

    Laura DeFrancesco

Authors
  1. Laura DeFrancesco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

DeFrancesco, L. DNA makes an appearance. Nat Biotechnol 36, 14–17 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4057

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4057

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing