The impact of cross-kingdom molecular forensics on genetic privacy

Microbiome

Emily M. Foster¹  Eran Elhaik²  Sofia Ahsanuddin³  Christopher E. Mason⁴  Jake M. Robinson⁵ 

[1] Columbia, USA;Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden;Department of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA;Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, 10021, New York, NY, USA;The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, 10021, New York, NY, USA;The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI), 10021, New York, NY, USA;The Information Society Project, Yale Law School, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA;The Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, Sheffield, UK;The Healthy Urban Microbiome Initiative (HUMI), 5005, Adelaide, South Australia;

关键词: Genomics;    Genetic privacy;    Metagenomics;    Next-generation sequencing;    Forensics;    Genetic discrimination;    Microbiomics;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-021-01076-z

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Recent advances in metagenomic technology and computational prediction may inadvertently weaken an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy. Through cross-kingdom genetic and metagenomic forensics, we can already predict at least a dozen human phenotypes with varying degrees of accuracy. There is also growing potential to detect a “molecular echo” of an individual’s microbiome from cells deposited on public surfaces. At present, host genetic data from somatic or germ cells provide more reliable information than microbiome samples. However, the emerging ability to infer personal details from different microscopic biological materials left behind on surfaces requires in-depth ethical and legal scrutiny. There is potential to identify and track individuals, along with new, surreptitious means of genetic discrimination. This commentary underscores the need to update legal and policy frameworks for genetic privacy with additional considerations for the information that could be acquired from microbiome-derived data. The article also aims to stimulate ubiquitous discourse to ensure the protection of genetic rights and liberties in the post-genomic era.7PkBfmw9FteK59GntaC8z9Video abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY