Scientists find genetic differences between northern Chinese, Koreans and Japanese
- Forensic academy researchers say the variations could be used by police to trace someone’s origin to help identify a body
- Gene variations between people from different ethnic groups have generally been found to be negligible
Researchers at China’s top forensic academy in Beijing say they have found genetic differences between three ethnic groups in East Asia – northern Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
These differences are coded in less than 50 variations across the sequence of the human genome, and the scientists said these genetic codes could be used by police to trace someone’s origin as a way to help identify a body.
The team from the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science said this could be done with more than 99 per cent accuracy, even if a tissue sample was badly damaged or degraded.
“In recent years, with the frequent social and economic exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea, a large number of people have left their birthplaces to live in other countries and integrate into the local society,” the team led by forensic scientist Li Caixia said in a paper published in the journal Hereditas (Beijing) on Thursday.
“The use of genetic markers to infer the ethnic origin of samples plays a key role in forensic practice.”
