Using the irisplex system for eye color prediction on skeletal remaining from the past 30 years

Abstract

One of the first tasks following humanitarian disasters is to identify the victims. DNA analysis of ancient skeletal remains is also important in forensic science. Recently, externally visible characteristics (EVCs) based polymorphism profile has provided forensic studies with greater speed and accuracy. In this study, eye color prediction based on IrisPlex single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on skeletal samples was evaluated. IrisPlex predictor SNPs (HERC2 – rs12913832, OCA2 – rs1800407, SLC45A2 – rs16891982, TYR – rs1393350, SLC24A4 – rs12896399, and IRF4 – rs12203592) of 12 forensic samples were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (SNaPshot method). Our primary results showed that eye color prediction was accurate (8 dark, 3 blue, and 1 intermediate). The prediction of dark and blue eye colors could be suitable from ancient DNA provided from remain skeletal samples using only IrisPlex system, based on our results, IrisPlex system is a suitable method for the prediction of dark and blue eye color. All dark and blue eye color samples were fairly correctly predicted (sensitivity: 95% and specificity: 90%), however, intermediate eye color prediction needed a more informative SNP assay to predict all variations of eye colors. Finally, we concluded that the use of EVCs to identify eye color using skeletal remains is a suitable method and could be recommended for future forensic research.

Keywords

• externally visible characteristics
• irisplex
• single-nucleotide polymorphism
• snapshot assay