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J. Draus-Barini, S. Walsh, E. Pospiech, T. Kupiec, H. Glab, W. Branicki and M. Kayser
By analyzing genes from a tooth of Polish Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, researchers confirmed he had the blue eyes and blond hair seen in portraits done many years after he died in 1943.
By Charles Choi
LiveScience
The color of the eyes and hair of ancestors dead for hundreds of years can now be revealed from their DNA alone, researchers say.
These findings suggest investigators not only can uncover new details from centuries-old human remains, but can also help identify crime victims, scientists added.
By comparing genomes across thousands of people, researchers identified genetic variations at 24 different points in the human genome that are linked with eye and hair colors, which past studies used to help determine the appearance of people who had died relatively recently. Now a team of researchers from Poland and the Netherlands have developed this system further to reveal the appearance of people long dead.
"We were able to look at the appearance of people who died several hundred years ago," researcher Wojciech Branicki, a geneticist at the Institute of Forensic Research and Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, told LiveScience.
For instance, the researchers analyzed DNA from Gen. Władysław Sikorski, who was born in 1881 and died in 1943. During World War II, Sikorski was commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces and was also prime minister of the Polish government in exile. He died in an airplane crash at Gibraltar. By analyzing genes from one of his teeth, the researchers confirmed he had the blue eyes and blond hair seen in portraits painted many years after his death.
"This system can be used to solve historical controversies where color photographs or other records are missing," Branicki said.
The researchers say their system, called HIrisPlex, can predict either blue or brown eye colors with about 94 percent accuracy. When it comes to hair color, it has accuracies of 69.5 percent for blond, 78.5 percent for brown, 80 percent for red and 87.5 percent for black.
For medieval samples, where DNA is relatively degraded, this system was still capable of predicting eye and hair color from remains about 800 years old. For instance, the researchers identified one mysterious woman from between the 12th and 14th centuries A.D. who was buried in a crypt of the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec near Kraków, where only remains of male monks were expected. The results hint that she had dark blond or brown hair and brown eyes. [ Science of Death: 10 Tales from the Crypt & Beyond ]
Although this research can help reveal what ancient human ancestors might have looked like based on their DNA alone, Branicki thinks the most practical aspect of their work is how it can help identify corpses for forensic analysis. For instance, "some of our samples were from unknown inmates of a World War II prison," he said. "In these cases, HIrisPlex helped to put physical features to the other DNA evidence."
In the future, the system may look at more than 24 points in the human genome — "from research carried out on the mouse, we estimate that 127 genes may be involved in human pigmentation," Branicki said. Still, "although research on eye and hair color prediction is ongoing, and we may expect some new predictors, it seems that the main predictors have been already identified, and especially in case of eye color, we should not expect any breakthrough in prediction in the near future."
The scientists detailed their findings online Sunday in the journal Investigative Genetics.
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Jesus... We can discover what someone's hair color after 100 years but we are no closer to a cure for any disease that will kill us. Like Cancer, ALS, Alzheimers, MS, AIDS, Parkinsons because there is no money in a cure. There is only money in research and treatments. All these people are dieing because doctors and researchers are just plain greedy and want more money. I hope there is a special place in hell for them.
And there is no validity in conspiracy theories. If you don't see the progress that has been made towards a "cure" for diseases, then it's simply because you don't want to.
It is far easier to identify common regularly repeating patterns in the human DNA across large groups, then it is to try to understand one marker which may cause cancer.Which can start off with just one mistake in one cell, which then,reproduces at too fast a rate.Unlike normal cells.Finding that gene among the vast number of markers is much harder then finding a needle in a hay stack.
With exposure to sunlight, chemicals,the natural environment and mistakes that can happen in the reproduction of cells, during the natural aging process, along with factors which cause cancer, finding a cure for every cancer isn't going to come easy.Although great strides have been made. Childhood leukemia has a success rate of 92% now.Squamous Cell Skin Cancer is 95% cured if caught early.Good news considering the fasted growing age group for getting it is 15-25.
Concerning being able to learn more identifying characteristics from DNA, I think it is good. Knowing which markers control for obesity in families can help people start earlier in life to prevent later problems, or heart/diabetes issues. Unraveling the secrets to identities can help solve who victims are that would normally never be found any other way.The field of what science is learning, continues to expanc.
The complexity of DNA makes the study of it hard enough, and when you add epigenetic changes to the mix, things become far more complex fast. The thing that the conspiracy theorists just don't seem to get is the fact that the studies that are now being done simply could not have been done before the technology such as gene sequencing was developed - regardless of the amount of money spent on the programs. I think that we have made amazing strides towards the cure of many illnesses.