Check your cousin's DNA with a cotton swab

The method developed by scientists in Kyoto, Japan, can accurately identify the relationship between two individuals, even if they are second cousins, with an accuracy of nearly 100%.

"We were motivated to do this after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami," said Chie Morimoto, who led the research team. "Many victims died, and more than 70 have not been identified even five years later."

According to Medical Daily, this new identification technique is done by taking a cotton swab and applying it to the inside of the cheek and comparing it with 170,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). From there, researchers will determine how many consecutive SNPs match to conclude the relationship between two individuals.

Japanese scientists' new DNA testing method helps determine the relationship between two individuals even if they are second cousins. Photo: AFP.

Keiji Tamaki, one of the authors, asserted that the method is not only useful in the event of an accident or disaster, but also ensures outstanding accuracy. "Current bloodline testing methods between parents and children are about 95% accurate, and between siblings are 72% accurate," he said.If the relationship is more distant like aunts and uncles, the accuracy drops to 5%. For second cousins, testing is almost impossible. Meanwhile, the techniqueOurs gives accuracy up to nearly 100%".

Currently, the swab DNA identification method is only applicable to the Japanese population. In the future, it will be updated with data and expanded globally.

According to VNE