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Investigative Genetic Genealogy - June 2024 (Denver, CO)

westStudy of Informative Ancestry Markers (AIM) by NGS and Their Roles in the Resolution of Court Cases

Jun 6, 2024 13:06 PM - Jun 6, 2024 14:06 PM, Lamiaa Mekhfi, Biological Sciences, Section Presentation

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The study of biogeographic ancestry using the Accurate Ancestry Identification Panel. Autosomal markers may provide little information about the nature of an individual's admixture due to ongoing human recombination and migration. Biogeographic ancestry assessment (BGA) is a term used to describe ancestry through DNA testing. This is usually accomplished by testing specific regions of DNA called ancestry information markers (AIMs). AIMs are chosen because they expose significantly different frequencies between different populations in different parts of the world. The panels of these AIMs can be tested using next-generation sequencing (NGS) to predict the geographical origins of a person of interest's ancestors, usually in terms of continent of origin, and sometimes by smaller geographic regions. The use of ancestry informative markers (AIM) to identify genomic ancestry can be useful for a variety of studies in evolutionary genetics, biomedical research, and forensic analyses. However, there remains a major challenge in determining AIMs for populations with complex and highly mixed ancestry. The difficulty of identifying unknown human remains is frequently encountered by forensic science. The usual techniques by which this identification is carried out are fingerprint comparison, anthropological examination, X-rays and DNA profiling. Short Tandem Repeat autosomal typing (STR) is the method of choice for body identification in the absence of specific physical characteristics. The DNA profile is compared to a reference profile or to profiles found in national DNA databases or on missing persons. In some cases, the body remains unidentified because the identical or related profiles are not present in the databases. However, additional genetic data is now available thanks to a better understanding of variations in the human genome and the emergence of new NGS sequencing technologies. This new data provides important information about unidentified DNA donors and reveals new elements that contribute to the progress of the investigation. Ancestry informative markers analysis (AIM) can be used to infer a characteristic of genetic ancestry. Using these indicators, it is possible to define a person's genotype as being influenced in varying proportions by major continental populations