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High Estimated Likelihood Ratio Might Be Insufficient in a DNA-lead Process of Identification of War Victims

Croatian International Relations Review

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Title High Estimated Likelihood Ratio Might Be Insufficient in a DNA-lead Process of Identification of War Victims
Visoke vrijednosti omjera vjerojatnosti ne moraju biti dostatne u procesu identifikacije žrtava rata s pomo}u analize DNA
 
Creator Džijan, Snježana
Primorac, Dragan
Marcikić, Mladen
Anđelinović, Šimun
Sutlović, Davorka
Dabelić, Sanja
Lauc, Gordan
 
Subject amplified fragment length polymorphism; Y chromosome; mtDNA; DNA typing; human identity; paternity
 
Description With the advance in typing tools and extraction procedures in recent years, DNA analysis has developed into an amazingly powerful method for forensic analysis. For a number of years, autosomal STR (Short Tandem Repeat) typing has been used as a tool in the process of identification of war victims in Croatia. Although DNA typing is very effective in detecting possible identities of exhumed skeletal remains, this approach bears some risk of false identification. The paper presents the case of a match between skeletal remains and the son and wife of a missing person in 13 STR loci. Even though these skeletal remains also matched in 13 loci the mother of the same missing person, additional genetic testing (Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA) unequivocally excluded the proposed identity. Although likelihood ratio is the best measure of the significance of a genetic match between exhumed skeletal remains and relatives of the missing person, the meaning of likelihood ratio is not as clear in database matching as in simple paternity cases and great care is needed to avoid wrong interpretation. To reduce the risk of possible false identifications, in addition to DNA evidence, other types of evidence (such as information about the time, place and other conditions of disappearance), as well as on anthropological and other »classical« forensic data are being used as a »control mechanism« in the DNA-lead process.
Zahvaljujući stalnom napretku u metodama izolacije i karakterizacije, analiza DNA razvila se u vrlo moćnu metodu forenzičke analize. Već niz godina analizu autosomnih STR regija primjenjuje se kao temeljnu metodu u procesu identifikacije žrtava rata u Hrvatskoj. Iako je analiza DNA vrlo učinkovita u pronalaženju mogućega identiteta ekshumiranih posmrtnih ostataka, ovakav pristup nosi i određeni rizik pogrešne identifikacije. Ovdje je opisan slučaj poklapanja posmrtnih ostataka sa sinom i suprugom nestale osobe u 13 STR lokusa. Iako su se isti posmrtni ostaci također poklapali i s majkom iste nestale osobe u 13 lokusa, dodatnim genetičkim ispitivanjima (Y kromosom i mitohondrijska DNA) nedvojbeno je isključena mogućnost da se radi o toj osobi. Omjer vjerojatnosti najbolji je pokazatelj značajnosti genetičkoga podudaranja skeletnih ostataka i rodbine nestalih osoba, no kad je to podudaranje pronađeno nasumičnim pretraživanjem baze podataka, značaj omjera vjerojatnosti nije tako jasan kao u jednostavnome utvrđivanju očinstva i potreban je velik oprez kako ne bi došlo do njegove pogrešne interpretacije. Radi smanjivanja rizika pogrešne identifikacije, osim na rezultate analize DNA, pri utvrđivanju identiteta velik značaj potrebno je dati i drugim tipovima dokaza (poput vremena, lokacije i uvjeta nestanka) te antropološkim i ostalim »klasičnim« forenzičkim dokazima, kao kontrolnome mehanizmu u procesu identifikacije predvođenom analizom DNA.
 
Publisher Croatian Chemical Society
 
Date 2005-09-15
 
Type text
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://hrcak.srce.hr/48
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/48
 
Source Croatica Chemica Acta; Vol.78 No.3; ISSN 0011-1643 (Print); ISSN 1334-417X (Online)
 
Language en
 
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Parts of the contents of Croat. Chem. Acta (e. g. figures or tables) may be reproduced without prior permission, provided reference is made to their source.