POLICE would love to be able to put together a likeness of a suspect using nothing more than a DNA sample. One part of this feat may soon be possible, thanks to a DNA test that predicts eye colour.
Manfred Kayser of in the Netherlands and his colleagues analysed DNA from more than 6000 people in Rotterdam, comparing their eye colour with 37 DNA markers on 8 genes that were already suspected of affecting eye colour.
Using this information, the researchers were able to predict brown eyes with an accuracy of 93 per cent and blue with 91 per cent 鈥� even when using just the six best markers (Current Biology, ). Intermediate colours such as green and hazel were harder to predict, at about 75 per cent accuracy. 鈥淲e may not have the right markers yet,鈥� says Kayser.
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Ate Kloosterman of the Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague says he hopes to apply the new technique to real crime-scene samples within a year.