Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T10:10:28.385Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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
Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding Forensic DNA , pp. 109 - 124
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×