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7 - From Mothers and Fathers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2022

Suzanne Bell  and
John M. Butler
Suzanne Bell
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
John M. Butler
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD
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Summary

So far, we have focused on DNA types in which one allele is from the father and one from the mother. However, three other sources of DNA come from only one parent, and all can be employed in forensic testing. One is mitochondrial DNA (from the mother in all her children), and the other two are STR sites on the Y chromosome (from the father in his sons) and STR sites on the X chromosome (from the mother in her sons). These DNA sources are lineage markers, since they can be traced back generations through our family trees. Lineage markers are valuable in missing person cases where DNA from the person of interest is not available. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used in historical cases, such as identifying soldiers killed in past conflicts. We will explore these and other examples in this chapter.

Keywords

lineage markersmitochondrial DNAhaplotypehaplogrouphypervariable regionssequencingheteroplasmyY-chromosome markersX-chromosome STRs
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Chapter
Information
Understanding Forensic DNA , pp. 109 - 124
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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