RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genome-wide Variants of Eurasian Facial Shape Differentiation and DNA based Face Prediction
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 062950
DO 10.1101/062950
A1 Lu Qiao
A1 Yajun Yang
A1 Pengcheng Fu
A1 Sile Hu
A1 Hang Zhou
A1 Shouneng Peng
A1 Jingze Tan
A1 Yan Lu
A1 Haiyi Lou
A1 Dongsheng Lu
A1 Sijie Wu
A1 Jing Guo
A1 Li Jin
A1 Yaqun Guan
A1 Sijia Wang
A1 Shuhua Xu
A1 Kun Tang
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/25/062950.abstract
AB It is a long standing question as to which genes define the characteristic facial features among different ethnic groups. In this study, we use Uyghurs, an ancient admixed population to query the genetic bases why Europeans and Han Chinese look different. Facial traits were analyzed based on high-dense 3D facial images; numerous biometric spaces were examined for divergent facial features between European and Han Chinese, ranging from inter-landmark distances to dense shape geometrics. Genome-wide association analyses were conducted on a discovery panel of Uyghurs. Six significant loci were identified four of which, rs1868752, rs118078182, rs60159418 at or near UBASH3B, COL23A1, PCDH7 and rs17868256 were replicated in independent cohorts of Uyghurs or Southern Han Chinese. A quantitative model was developed to predict 3D faces based on 277 top GWAS SNPs. In hypothetic forensic scenarios, this model was found to significantly enhance the verification rate, suggesting a practical potential of related research.