The popular science article "In the DNA Trail: How Population Genetics Helps Forensic Science"

The article provides an overview of the history of molecular genetic methods application in forensics, which allow establishing the guilt of a person by comparing his biological material with a sample taken at the crime scene. The publication discovers methods of reconstructing the history of humanity by DNA, the genetic human diversity, methods of determining kinship by DNA, and approaches to identification by DNA profile. For identification, it is sufficient to compare several regions in the genome - STR loci on autosomes. To assess the probability of identification, databases are created on the frequency of STR variants occurrence in various population groups. This makes it possible to narrow the search for a criminal in the event that there is no sample to compare it to his DNA sample. In this case, by close or distant kinship, it is possible to determine which population group the wanted criminal belongs. It is described how databases of genetic variants common in populations of different geographical regions are created. The article mentions some successful cases of using such approaches for criminal identification: terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport, search for a serial pedophile in Novosibirsk. Clarified are the goals and objectives of the Union State program "DNA Identification" focusing on the  new technologies development by Russian and Belarusian scientists that enable to determine not only the probable region of a person's origin, but also his or her physical features using DNA.

S.A. Borinskaya, O.P. Balanovsky, O.L. Kurbatova, N.K. Yankovsky. In the DNA trail: How population genetics helps forensic science // Priroda, 2020, N11, pp. 3-14, DOI: 10.7868 / S0032874X20110010