Genetic Kinship Investigation from Blood Groups to DNA Markers

Abstract

The forensic application of hereditary characteristics became possible after the discovery of human blood groups by Karl Landsteiner in 1901. The foundation for their use in kinship investigation was laid by Emil von Dungern and Ludwig Hirschfeld in 1910 by clarification of the inheritance of the ABO groups. Up to the middle of the 20th century further red cell membrane systems were discovered. From the 1920s Fritz Schiff and Georg Strassmann fought for the introduction of blood groups into forensic kinship investigation. A new era of hemogenetics was opened from 1955 as genetic polymorphisms were described in serum proteins. Starting in 1958 there followed the complex HLA system of white blood cells, which from 1963 was joined by polymophisms in erythrocyte enzymes. Therefore, from the 1980s, it was possible to clarify the majority of kinship cases with a combination of conventional markers. From 1990 to 2000 the conventional markers were gradually replaced by the more effective DNA markers. Simultaneously typing shifted from the phenotype level to the genotype level. The genomic structure of conventional genetic markers could also now be explained. As a reflection of scientific progress the legal situation also changed, particularly in the form of the official guidelines for kinship investigation.

Fig. 1

Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943).

Fig. 2

Emil Freiherr von Dungern (1867–1961).

Fig. 3

Ludwig Hirschfeld (1884–1954).