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> Suppose my DNA is on the person I brushed on the street today. How would a government agent be able to prove that whatever DNA they extract from his coat slee
by microcolonel 9y ago
> Suppose my DNA is on the person I brushed on the street today. How would a government agent be able to prove that whatever DNA they extract from his coat sleeve is mine? In order to do so, they would have to have a sample of my own DNA.
That is exactly what the article is about: using large genetic databases to find DNA they have never collected in connection to an investigation.
- tathougies 9y agoThey never collected the rapist's family's DNA. All the FBI has ever had access to was the rapists DNA (from his semen). They matched it using a service that his relative opted into. The rapist has no right to control relative's DNA.
- pfdietz 9y agoAnd I believe it wasn't even a close relative. DNA matching can identify relatives many generations separated from someone, by finding stretches of DNA with the same set of specific mutations (haplotype) that have not yet been broken by recombination. What this means is that getting just a small fraction of the population into this database will enable it to provide leads for any DNA sample.