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Researchers from KU Leuven (Belgium) and the universities of Pittsburgh, Stanford, and Penn State (US) have identified fifteen genes that determine human facial features. Human DNA determines what an individual look like, including facial features. That appeals to the popular imagination, as the potential applications are obvious. Doctors could use DNA for skull and facial reconstructive surgery, forensic examiners could sketch a perpetrator’s face on the basis of DNA retrieved from a crime scene, and historians would be able to reconstruct facial features using DNA from days long gone.
In a new study conducted by KU Leuven in collaboration with the universities of Pittsburgh, Stanford and Penn State, the researchers adopted a different approach. “Our search doesn’t focus on specific traits,” lead author Peter Claes (KU Leuven) explains. “My colleagues from Pittsburgh and Penn State each provided a database with 3D images of faces and the corresponding DNA of these people. Each face was automatically subdivided into smaller modules. Next, we examined whether any locations in the DNA matched these modules. This modular division technique made it possible for the first time to check for an unprecedented number of facial features.”
The scientists were able to identify fifteen locations in human DNA. The Stanford team found out that genomic loci linked to these modular facial features are active when human face develops in the womb. “Furthermore, we also discovered that different genetic variants identified in the study are associated with regions of the genome that influence when, where and how much genes are expressed,” says Joanna Wysocka (Stanford). Seven of the fifteen identified genes are linked to the nose, and that’s good news, Peter Claes (KU Leuven) continues. “
A skull doesn’t contain any traces of the nose, which only consists of soft tissue and cartilage. Therefore, when forensic scientists want to reconstruct a face on the basis of a skull, the nose is the main obstacle. If the skull also yields DNA, it would become much easier to determine the shape of the nose. Age, environment, and lifestyle have an impact on what human face looks like, this could provide genetic insight into the shape and functioning of human brain, as well as in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”
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