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Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons02:54

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...
Genomics02:02

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Next-generation Sequencing

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Genome-wide Association Studies-GWAS01:11

Genome-wide Association Studies-GWAS

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease
09:34

Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease

Published on: April 4, 2018

Identifying personal genomes by surname inference.

Melissa Gymrek1, Amy L McGuire, David Golan

  • 1Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|January 19, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Personal genomes can be de-anonymized by linking Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) to public genealogy databases. This method, using surnames and metadata, can identify individuals in shared sequencing data.

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Detection of Rare Genomic Variants from Pooled Sequencing Using SPLINTER
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Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease
09:34

Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease

Published on: April 4, 2018

Detection of Rare Genomic Variants from Pooled Sequencing Using SPLINTER
14:06

Detection of Rare Genomic Variants from Pooled Sequencing Using SPLINTER

Published on: June 23, 2012

Area of Science:

  • Genomics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Population Genetics

Background:

  • Genomic data sharing is increasing, often without direct personal identifiers.
  • Recreational genetic genealogy databases have grown significantly in size and scope.
  • Privacy concerns arise from the potential for re-identification of individuals in anonymized datasets.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the feasibility of recovering surnames from anonymized genomic data.
  • To assess the effectiveness of using Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) for surname recovery.
  • To evaluate the impact of combining genetic data with other metadata for individual identification.

Main Methods:

  • Profiling Y-STRs from personal genome data.
  • Querying publicly accessible recreational genetic genealogy databases.
  • Utilizing additional metadata (age, state) to triangulate identity.
  • Quantitative analysis of identification probabilities for U.S. males.

Main Results:

  • Surnames can be successfully recovered from personal genomes using Y-STR profiling and public databases.
  • Combining Y-STR data with metadata like age and state significantly increases the probability of identification.
  • The technique relies solely on free and publicly available online resources.
  • Demonstrated high-probability identification of participants in public sequencing projects.

Conclusions:

  • Anonymized genomic data, specifically Y-STRs, can be linked to individuals through public genealogy resources.
  • The combination of genetic markers and metadata poses a significant privacy risk for individuals in public sequencing datasets.
  • Future genomic data sharing practices must consider these re-identification risks and implement robust privacy-preserving measures.