Parentage Studies Research Articles

Identity and Paternity Testing of Cattle: Application of a Deoxyribonucleic Acid Profiling Protocol

We have applied DNA profiling for identity and parentage studies of cattle using a standardized procedure based on synthetic micro- and minisatellite multilocus core probes in Southern blot hybridization assays. This protocol is useful for paternity analysis of cattle and for real case work (e.g., identity and paternity disputes).

DNA fingerprinting: parentage studies in natural populations and the importance of linkage analysis.

It has been suggested that a full linkage analysis is a prerequisite for confident paternity testing, by using DNA fingerprinting, in natural populations. These fears are based on a confusion between linkage and linkage disequilibrium and a misplaced assumption that linkage between bands will necessarily reduce the effective number of paternal-specific bands. Several methods for detecting linkage without resorting to the analysis of large sibships are considered, for example, by analysing half-sibships, by band-association, and by altering the experimental conditions used. Even if linkage is present, the magnitude of its effects are unlikely to undermine the accuracy of the technique, given the average levels of variability being detected. We conclude that the effects of linkage are only likely to present a problem when sample sizes are very small or when closely related individuals are being tested together.

The need for optical study of space debris parentage

Abstract Signature data from optical tracking of certain Cosmos satellite payloads has been found to produce useful data on their behavior. Satellites can be grouped not only by orbital element parameters, but by visible light signatures. We find that intentional explosions have occurred on a continual basis since 1974 following mission completion of many Cosmos 699-type payloads. Other applications for optically derived data are discussed.

Beyond the white norm: the use of qualitative methods in the study of black youths’ schooling in England

There is at present in England great confusion concerning the schooling of black youths. Much conventional “race‐relations” research is underpinned by models of social pathology that perceives the youths as a “problem.” While carrying out a study of black students, of Afro‐Caribbean and Asian parentage, qualitative research pointed to the need to re‐conceptualise their experience of schooling within a framework that moves beyond liberal assumptions of a de‐racialised, de‐gendered and de‐politicised school system. Placing students at the centre of the research enables us to see how school for black youths is part of a wider alienating response to them that results in their experience of a “different reality” from the white population. In response to this, the students have creatively developed a number of survival strategies. This article explores the implications of the relative autonomy of methodology from wider theoretical and substantive concerns. In this largely autobiographical account the dialectica...

Pitfalls and Improved Techniques in Avian Parentage Studies

Recent studies on avian parentage have used both biochemical techniques and field observations to detect intraspecific brood parasitism and extra-pair fertilizations (EPFs). In long-term parentage studies of the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) using electrophoresis and field observations, we have encountered several methodological problems. Based on our findings and the existing literature, we describe these pitfalls and suggest improvements in techniques. The pitfalls include difficulty in obtaining large sample sizes, manipulation of natural populations, inaccurate allelic frequencies based on electrophoretic screening of too few individuals, catching the wrong putative parents, improper storage and handling of tissue samples, confounding effects of developmental changes in allelic expression, and misinterpretation of electrophoretic results. To improve parentage studies, we suggest censusing nest boxes around the peak times of laying to detect more than one egg per day, matching nestlings with eggs, establishing strict criteria for identifying putative parents at a nest, collecting pectoral muscle using an incision that goes in the direction of the superficial pectoral muscle fibers, and assessing the relative efficiency of laboratory and field methods to decide which would yield maximum results.

Action of African B gene on A, subgroup of A.

The action of strong B gene on A1, subgroup of A is demonstrated in a family of 18 individuals. The inheritance of A2BHw and A2BHw is explained. Attention is drawn to these subgroups in parentage studies, especially in Africans.

Use of antiserums for blood group antigens S and K in studies of parentage.

The commonly accepted blood groups ABO, MN, and Rh-Hr are approximately 50% effective in proving nonparentage. Statistics are available at present to establish the Kell and S factors as distinct and reliable genetic markers, thus making them similarly useful. The additional effectiveness provided by the tests for these factors may be crucial in certain cases. In addition, the experience in the application of other blood group antigens such as Duffy, Kidd, and Lutheran to problems of parentage indicates that the determination of filial relationship by blood tests will be a more accurate procedure in the near future. The total effectiveness of all of these available tests in proving nonpaternity is approximately 63 %. Statistics and typical family studies with actual case records are presented to support these figures.