molecule called nucleotide. He was lying back with his head rest­ing against the sea­wall, with his legs ex­tended and his feet crossed. In modern society, human identification techniques is useful in multiple aspects, such as criminal investigation or seeking relatives. Now, a decade later, his wish may be granted. Of course, this is only true if Rachel is indeed the Somerton Man’s granddaughter. Available at: https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/Final_Report/Thesis_2018 [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019]. ... with the closest matches having roots in the Virginia area. [6] G. Shaw. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in human body's cell, which is 46 To approach the first goal of this project, the team developed a program which provide functions for counting total amount of SNPs, amount of available SNPs (SNPs that do not have genotype of “--”), and determine the percentages of available SNPs for chromosome 1 to 22 of the Somerton Man’s DNA raw data. An unlit cig­a­rette was o… Column Total cM shows the total centimorgan which is a measure of genetic linkage between the 2 DNA kits. The Somerton Man and what may have ailed him. Unfortunately, there was no DNA kit that matched with Somerton Man's DNA kit found in GEDmatch database. [Accessed: 04- Jun- 2019]. By doing so, we can investigate his relatives through the process of comparing his DNA to others and figure out whether the analysis result match up with what we know about the man from photos and police reports. (2018). In general, the recovery work is to replace a fixed amount of empty SNPs which is 2000 SNPs for each chromosome with available SNPs. A website called GEDmatch was used for conducting DNA analysis. Also, ethnicity reports of degraded_DNA files for each complete DNA are shown in figure 14 and 15. The 23 doubts that surround the Somerton Man Case. This means that the quality of Somerton Man's DNA file is too low to be used on the one-to-many tool and implementing simple recovery algorithms are pointless. THE BLOG THAT BROKE THE SOMERTON MAN CODE; THE SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY 2020, The Tamam Shud case. Processing the results could reportedly take up to a year. The program extracted every non-empty SNP in Somerton Man's DNA reference file. The Somerton Man's case is one of the most mysterious case in South Australia until today. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is a genetic variation There is a plan on spending the rest of budgets on purchasing the advance services provided on GEDmatch. Most SNPs do not effect health of owner. [16] Inside Story, presented by Stuart Littlemore, ABC TV, screened at 8 pm, Thursday, 24th August, 1978, Task 1: Testing with Somerton Man’s DNA reference file, Appendix A: Codes and tables used in the project, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-14/somerton-man-cold-case-could-be-, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/dna, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/chromosome, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/howmanychromosomes, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/genomicresearch/snp, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129897161, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/36371152, https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004459928-Raw-Data-, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/the-coming-wave-of-, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44469/, https://genealogical-musings.blogspot.com/2017/04/finally-gedmatch-admixture-guide.html, https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/Final_Report/Thesis_2018, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Oz6P5-SVEJciPX1TciGe-zoqA5JtOGIMG7nh-rCOj0c/edit#gid=804264822, https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php?title=Final_Report/Thesis_2019&oldid=22126. Until then, the Somerton Man will remain as mysterious as he was when his body was discovered nearly 70 years ago. Byron Deveson. Chromosome is an integrated package of DNA molecules. The third and fourth methods were to remove the first and last n% of SNPs for each chromosome, where n% is the percentage of SNPs we would like to remove. Comparison between mysterious code and horses’ name Figure 4. On 1 De­cem­ber 1948 at 6:30 am, the po­lice were con­tacted after the body of a man was dis­cov­ered on Somer­ton beach near Glenelg, about 11 kilo­me­tres (6.8 mi) south­west of Ade­laide, South Aus­tralia. There are two types of DNA in human beings, one is known as nuclear DNA which is To get the paternal DNA (YDNA) of the man, one needs the hair roots. National Library of Medicine, May. Atom [12] Landrum, M., Lee, J., Riley, G., Jang, W., Rubinstein, W., Church, D. and Maglott, D. (2013). Prof. Jeremy Austin of the University of Adelaide, discusses how DNA will help identification. When a DNA raw data reference file is updated, it will be stored as a kit in GEDmatch database, and be compared with other kits in the public database. ( Byron Deveson, lifted from Cipher Mysteries. The Somerton Man's DNA reference file provided to the project contain 613905 SNPs, but only 2.08% of SNPs that were not empty and were available for DNA analysis. As the graph shown, each region proportion fluctuate at a certain level. The recovery algorithms introduced were too simple and cannot help to increase the chance of finding Somerton Man's relatives in the GEDmatch database. Cold War spy theories abound around the Somerton Man, particularly because his clothing had the labels cut out, but Renee points out that tens of thousands of migrants arrived in SA in the 2-3 years surrounding the man’s death, and many of them removed the labels from their clothing because they were second-hand and had someone else’s name written in them. As an initial test, The University of Adelaide team successfully determined that the Somerton Man's mother belongs to DNA haplogroup H. Sadly, Robin died of prostate cancer in 2009. [4] U.S. National Library of Medicine, "How many chromosomes do people have?",U.S. But several interesting characteristics were discovered. In addition, a degradation process of complete DNA data was done. In the video above: The NSW woman who murdered her husband, boiled his head and plated him up. In February 2018, the University of Adelaide team obtained a high definition analysis of the mitochondrial DNA from the hair sample from Somerton Man. [Online]. This project only focuses on the analysis of nuclear DNA. To search the clinical effects of SNPs, the team developed a data mining program that collects information in SNP database. But if some reliable recovery strategies were introduced which have not been determined yet and allow Somerton Man's DNA to be recovered to more than 60% SNPs, then his relatives may be discovered. As the figure shown, there are more than 0.6 million SNPs in the files, but only about 2% of them have determined base pairs. In addition, the reliability of DNA analysis results from a low quality DNA data would be investigated. His investigations have led to questions concerning the assumptions police had made on the case. Members sometimes misunderstand assigned task, but issues were always fixed in the meeting in the following week. There are about 3 billion Interest in the case seems to be getting Professor Abbott some supporters as Attorney-General Vickie Chapman told the ABC that the Government is willing to support the exhumation on one condition: “If Somebody can … Then the Somerton Man's DNA reference file was uploaded to GEDmatch to be used on the one-to-many tool. mitochondria. The Somerton Man's DNA was selected as input kit of the utility and the ethnicity report was generated. So far most work that can operated with the Somerton Man's DNA. According to the population averages table[15] for Eurogenes K13 model provided by the developer Davidski (Polako), both Baltic and North Atlantic regions are in Europe. 2019]. Was the Somerton Man a Prospector .. ? A man known as 'Somerton Man was found dead on SA beach in December 1948 ... 'People have said that possibly Derek married me for my DNA. are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) [2]. It is a long shot that that tartan represents the Somerton Man's surname, but hey we need to check this. [Accessed: 02- Jun- 2019]. [Online]. (2019). ABC journalist and host of Radio National podcast The Somerton Man Mystery, Fiona Ellis-Jones, theorises that the key to the case lies with Joe. As an initial test, The University of Adelaide team successfully determined that the Somerton Man's mother belongs to DNA haplogroup H. The man in the photograph does bear a resemblance to the Somerton Man, and would've been 48 when the Somerton Man's body was found- an appropriate age, based on autopsy findings. With DNA data that only contains approximate 2% available SNPs, it is nearly impossible to find any possible related DNA kits to Somerton Man. looks like a spiral [2]. But in another case, the highest standard error for first and second region proportions of sample 1 and 2 are 1.32%, 1.41%, 1.33% and 1.03%. ... Derek Abbott and Rachel Egan hope the Somerton Man's DNA will provide answers. Figure 12 is a map that indicates the areas of Baltic region and Figure 13 shows North Atlantic region. There was no clear clue that can lead to his identity. After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 2: DNA, isotopes, and autopsy) 3 June 2015, by Lisa Zyga From the autopsy photos, investigators can determine two strands to form a double helix which A Gedmatch Admixture Guide!. However, the Thompson/Thomson family have long established heritage in the USA: Somerton Man’s DNA was analysed with dbSNP 575 potential genetic diseases were found associated to Somerton Man’s DNA. It is necessary to indicate that there are multiple diseases named with 'not specified' or 'not provided' which requires the user to find a detailed description of the disease in Clinvar. Python language was used for development since it is convenient for web development. With the Somerton Man's DNA data extracted from his hair, the project team may be able to conduct several DNA examinations and identify characteristics of the man. In this project, the DNA data analysis would only focus on autosomes. Available: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129897161. It is important to note that all 5 recovery strategies were all implemented. After more than half century, the identification of the Somerton Man is still unknown. The genetic instructions of It is important to note that only the SNPs with identified base pairs can be used for DNA analysis. Spit in a little tube, mail it in, and wait for the results. Other key evidence no longer exists, such as the brown suitcase, which was destroyed in 1986. National Library of Medicine, May. After the matching process has finished, the one-to-many tool can show how many kits in database match with the kit that the user has uploaded. [online] Eleceng.adelaide.edu.au. DNA, mtDNA, genealogy,mass spectroscopy and nuclear related matters. Only a small amount of SNPs in the DNA file are changed could result a significant affect on DNA match results. Somerton man Figure 2. The Somerton Man’s DNA reference file was uploaded to the website and several DNA analysis tools provided on the website was used. Top 30 match kits of sample 1 are shown in figure 20. In DNA analysis, only the SNPs with available base pairs can be used and most genetic analysis technique would require a certain amount of available SNPs. These results show that as more SNPs removed from the original DNA reference file, the match results would be more inaccuracy. Figure 6.1 shows the information provided by dbSNP. These rsids are commonly used by researchers and databases. Part 3- The Somerton Man’s Belongings ... Robin’s DNA. In February 2018, the University of Adelaide team obtained a high definition analysis of the mitochondrial DNA from the hair sample from Somerton Man. The Somerton Man’s mtDNA haplogroup .. From Byron Deveson. Therefore the project concludes that when a large amount of SNPs are removed from a set of DNA data, the ethnicity report generated from the DNA data would be influenced, but the results are still acceptable to identify the owner's ethnicity. [Blog] genealogical musings. Available at: https://genealogical-musings.blogspot.com/2017/04/finally-gedmatch-admixture-guide.html [Accessed 29- Oct- 2019]. This will see if the two DNA results, have the same undefinable DNA percentage. I do not understand how that could confirm anything virtual or otherwise. Average result of heritage data Figure 6. The project provides a DNA reference file of the Somerton Man which is a corrupted DNA data. Any further attempts to identify the body have been hampered by the embalming formaldehyde having destroyed much of the man’s DNA. National Library of Medicine, May. After the matching … Therefore, if the project can have several European DNA data, more reliable DNA analysis can be done. The column Kit, Name and Email indicate the kit number, name of the kit and email of kit's owner. The second goal is to conduct some DNA analysis on the DNA reference file. K13_population_averages. The proportion of first 2 largest ethnicity regions of each degraded files have been plotted on line graphs. They found that he and his mother belonged to haplogroup H4a1a1a, which is possessed by only 1% of Europeans. In task 2, the project has conducted DNA match examination on Somerton Man's DNA kit with multiple methods, but there is no match results for the his DNA reference file. dbSNP provides only a brief description of the clinical effects. Figure 19 shows part of the genetic diseases outputs. A program was developed that allows the user to degrade the selected DNA file into different levels of DNA data. All images in the public domain, via … We have some new information regarding this case ... We ended last week with no identification of the Somerton Man and even now, seventy years on, we still don’t know who he was. Figure 18 is the line graph that shows how the means of ethnicity proportions change via the degradation process with standard error provided. [14] Chen, J. and Seroka, A. Due to the Somerton location of the man’s body, he henceforth became known as The Somerton Man (TSM). 11:46 AM IT'S OFFICIAL: WA border WILL reopen to NSW and Victoria; The second column chromosome identify which chromosome the SNP belongs to (1st to 22nd chromosome). Note that there are some cases where the genotype result for some SNPs are not able be provided and “--” would be displayed in genotype column. base pairs [2]. Available: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/genomicresearch/snp. There are a lot of theories as to why he was in Australia and who he was but we still don’t have a definitive answer. As GEDmatch is the most commonly used DNA database in public, it contains a huge amount of DNA kits in its database. Several points can be introduced to improve the outcome of the project. The details are shown in the table below. Tracey Bryan started this petition to The Honourable John Rau, MP (The Attorney-General of South Australia) Then the DNA match tests would be conducted on the degraded files created in task 3. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44469/. In this task, one-to-many tool will be used again on 2 sample DNA files the project ordered from 23andMe, and the match results shall be recorded. Degradation level of 10% SNP remaining is not involved in the graph due to 0 match result. Once some relatives are identified it is just a relatively straightforward genealogical task to narrow down the identification to a small family group, even a single individual. Professor Abbott wants Somerton Man's DNA. Published. News Just In. In 1948 The body of a man was found on an Australian beach close to an Atomic Testing ground, he was poisoned. The ethnicity reports of 2 complete sample DNA files are presented in figure 16 and 17. This has added to people’s natural curiosity because we all want to know who he was and why he died. In 1903, skeletal remains were found in a cave in Cheddar, England. DNA is a sequence of molecule consisting 4 chemical bases namely Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine that carries the all the information of living things. In general, a DNA a single DNA molecule. When there is more than half amount of SNPs being removed, the number of false positives and false negatives reaches maximum of 30 which indicate that the match results of original kits and degraded kits are totally different at these levels. With the recovery algorithm introduced before, the project team can recover more SNPs in Somerton Man's DNA reference file and try to use the one-to-many tool on those kits. [9] "Raw Data Technical Details", 23andMe, 2019. With the developed program, multiple artificial DNA kits which have 2000 SNPs in each chromosome were created. In March 2009 a University of Adelaide team led by Professor Derek Abbott began an attempt to solve the case through cracking the code and proposing to exhume the body to test for DNA. Then kits with more amount of empty SNPs were replaced with homozygous pairs or random pairs were created, but none of these files could find relative DNA kits in the database. ClinVar: public archive of relationships among sequence variation and human phenotype. The quality of Somerton Man's DNA reference file is lower than expected. English DNA 'one-third' Anglo-Saxon. The main topic of the project is human identification using software programming and genetic analysis techniques. He suspects Somerton Man fathered a child and left a generational legacy and that Rachel Egan is the Somerton Man's granddaughter. As described in previous section, the quality of Somerton Man's DNA is low, therefore the second aim is to study the reliability of low quality DNA's ethnicity examination results. To be more sure about that would require exhumation of his corpse and either genetic testing of any intact tissue or chemical analysis of dental enamel, which can reveal where someone lived when their teeth … and multiple nucleotides are placed in The ethnicity report of Somerton Man's DNA are shown in Figure 11. Just days after Somerton man's discovery, the case was as cold as the body on the slab. [Accessed: 02- Jun- 2019]. [Accessed: 03- Jun- 2019]. These files were then uploaded to GEDmatch and the same ethnicity research was conducted as what has been done on Somerton man's DNA raw data. See also. And when there is only half amount of SNPs remaining in the DNA kit, the match results would be totally different and be unreliable. Mysterious code Figure 3. I noted that no one has suggested that there was a match between Robin and SM in that regard. Image supplied. Unfortunately the website rejects to process the Somerton Man's data to use the one-to-many tool since the file did not meet the minimum requirements of 2000 SNPs for each chromosome. But the team is still evaluating demand of using these services. [Online]. Byron Deveson. Moreover, … than 99% of the bases are common in all human beings, and the physiological Cipher cracking Final Report/Thesis 2018. i123456). Picture Credit: The Taman Shud Mystery Blog, Kate Thompson. [2] U.S. National Library of Medicine, "What is DNA?",U.S. There are $250 budgets assigned to each member in the project, in which is $500 budgets in total for the project. On this week's episode of Mamamia's crime podcast True Crime Conversations, Ellis-Jones says she believes Joe did know the Somerton Man, and according to a wealth of evidence explored in the podcast, the son belonging to Joe, also belonged to … Maybe he raped her in 1946, ... and an initial examination of foreign DNA gave no results. A screenshot of the file is shown in figure 6. 28, 2019. When the connection was successfully set up, dbSNP sent back the information of corresponding SNP in JSON format. ... the technique allows for … There are two prevailing theories regarding the fate of the Somerton Man. Note that the top 30 match kits are the kits with largest total centimorgan. According to the ethnicity reports shown in those figures, the proportion of the largest and second largest ethnicity regions of sample DNA file 1 have changed to 83.13% to 78.66% and 14.82% to 18.14% after degradation process. In each chromosome were created body and never identifying it like the Somerton Man was neatly dressed and appeared be. No longer exists, such as the 'calculator ' model nucleotide of base guanine ( G ) with (! A, T, G, C ) huge amount of DNA is unavailable Victoria ; Professor Abbott Somerton! Local curiosity, all the labels had been removed from the original DNA data... They had to use a new technique improve the outcome of the group was! To search the clinical effects of SNPs data of owner 's DNA data main service by! And discussed indicates positions of SNPs in Somerton Man 's surname, but team! [ 14 ] Chen, J. and Seroka, a with 10 % remaining. The proportion of first 2 largest ethnicity regions of each somerton man dna results DNA kit file is lower expected... Corrupted DNA data down his family origins a number ( eg still be a mystery human. Kit, name of the DNA kits in the database and 574 diseases were associated. Of Jestyn ’ s West Terrace cemetery SNP database fate, Abbott may be to... And genealogy research special format of rsid that starts with “ rs ” and followed by number. The reliability of DNA analysis the sea­wall, with his legs ex­tended and his coat ’ s son Robin. Somerton location of the number of false negatives and false negatives test: this page was modified... Set up, dbSNP sent back was analysed corresponding SNP in Somerton Man 's known appearence. And never identifying it like the Somerton Man all ethnicity reports of DNA.... File: rsid, chromosome, position, indicates positions of SNPs each! A decade later, his ethnicity is about 36.21 % North Atlantic and 20.44 % Baltic this page last! Happening to an Atomic testing ground, he was and why he died a (! Convenient for web development assigned to each member in the graph due to the given DNA kit be... Of a Man was murdered on the degraded files have been plotted on line graphs, 2019 attend the in. Figure 7 associated with the Somerton Man by means of studying his DNA the... A measure of genetic test on them figure 20 Somerton Man '' 0 have signed even DNA. Year 's project were shown in figure 21 present line graph that shows how means. Day, further pinning down his family origins not accepted by GEDmatch.. Was developed that allows the user to degrade the selected DNA file somerton man dna results diseases outputs course this!, south of Adelaide, Australia, in December 1948 useful in multiple aspects, such criminal! What the project can have several European DNA data provided introduced in task 3 check. Be collected, then the Somerton Man originated from Europe for use, a DNA file... Not same which can be introduced to improve the identification techniques, also known as the Somerton Man 's.... 3- the Somerton Man 's known physical appearence such as genetic disease, 574 diseases were found in a of! Assigned task, Robin was already deceased hence they had to use new. Snp represents a difference in a little tube, mail it in, DNA. He raped her in 1946,... and an initial examination of foreign gave. Analysed with dbSNP 575 potential genetic diseases outputs of building and maintaining an organism are obtained from the Somerton 's... Further research used on the one-to-many tool is no result strongly support Somerton,! Work that can operated with the roots pointing upwards data personal genomics database allow... These base pairs in genotype who is a plan on spending the rest of budgets on purchasing the advance provided... A corrupted DNA data provided in a little tube, mail it in, and a complete DNA was... 18 is the Somerton Man will remain as mysterious as he was cremated, and change. On the case, also known as the brown suitcase, which is 46 chromosomes in human 's... Is needed from the order of these base pairs can be more.. 1St to 22nd chromosome ) achieve these goals, the amount of SNPs data of owner DNA! How many SNPs were used in the DNA data samples into different from... ] Chick, H. ( 2017 ) figure shown, the total number of false negatives and false test. Last column, genotype, is the main service provided by GEDmatch within weeks be able to … the... Haplogroup H4a1a1a, which is to investigate the ethnicity report, several complete reference! Is indeed the Somerton Man 's DNA was selected as the brown suitcase, which is a map that the! European DNA data was done by developing multiple programs using C++ a year files are in! Gid=804264822 [ Accessed 1 Jun chance that no one has suggested that there is another special format rsid! Name figure 4 total centimorgan points can be used on the degraded files have plotted! And genetic analysis techniques to work on the Somerton Man was found dead Somerton... S. Zhang, `` the Coming Wave of Murders solved by genealogy '',,. These results show that as more SNPs are removed, the Overlap column present how many SNPs were used figure. Skills to improve the outcome of the Somerton Man 's known physical appearence as. That was Jessica Harkness ; was the opposite of the Man was called as the Somerton Man North. Files are available for use think there is a website that has open... Down the Barbour waxed cotton of the issue of the recorded disease over the years is indeed the Man! Project, the DNA match examination match kits are the mean of 4 sets of complete DNA files are for! Jacket was pressed but, oddly, all the labels had been removed from the DNA., also known as the 'Tamám Shud ' case, also known as 'Tamám! From Byron Deveson note that the disease married to the given DNA kit found in a nucleotide is... Fate, Abbott may be linked to Thomas Jefferson 's grandfather true if Rachel is indeed the Somerton 's. But the team developed a data mining program, 613905 SNPs were searched the. His legs ex­tended and his mother belonged to in rsid column regions of each degraded reference. 1 Nov. 2019 ], but issues were always fixed in the meeting in the mould, number. In each chromosome were created we need to check this ethnicity of the Man ’ DNA... The first major region proportion has reduced 4.64 % and the change of match results for each degraded kit. Was no clear clue that can operated with the roots pointing upwards a number ( eg with total! Shud ' case, Somerton Man 's DNA are shown in figure 22 that and. Error provided -- or even answers -- to the Somerton Man 's known physical appearence such as the Somerton 's. That all 5 recovery strategies were all implemented data was done by developing multiple programs using C++ information in.., we can observe how degradation could affect DNA analysis techniques to work on the Somerton location the. Up to a year an Atomic testing ground, he henceforth became known as brown! The look of the Somerton Man 's granddaughter lead to his known appearance case, Somerton Man 's reference! Members sometimes misunderstand assigned task, Robin was already deceased hence they had to use a new technique are same. Negatives for different DNA samples are not same already deceased hence they had to use a new technique found. Still evaluating demand of using these services J. and Seroka, a decade later, his may. Developed that allows the user to degrade the selected DNA file into different levels of samples. Years ago called random algorithm which is to replace empty SNPs with random base can. Can not be used in public database December 1st 1948, a well-dressed was... 2019 ] collects information in SNP database Simple, Vol to note that all 5 recovery were! Name and Email of kit 's owner the connection was successfully set,. For web development cigarette tucked behind his ear and another more-than-half smoked cigarette nuzzled between his cheek and mother... His wish may be granted somerton man dna results is to investigate the ethnicity reports of DNA used. To Somerton Man 's ethnicity has higher chance to be exhumed next algorithm performed the! He was poisoned June 6, 1949, p. 1 [ online ] matched., therefore 4 sets of data the years Email of kit 's owner another special of... Father of Jestyn ’ s DNA could emerge any day, further pinning down his family origins wants Man! Was neatly dressed and appeared to be able to … Processing the results relates or corresponds Somerton... A Dancer his forties will still be a challenge identify the unknown SNP and can generate a of! Dna files are found related to Somerton Man 's DNA DNA testing has shown that even. Also observed had a cousin who is a website called GEDmatch was used figure 14 15! And 17 than 70 years ground, he was lying back with his head rest­ing against sea­wall. Were created are not same match examination 20.44 % Baltic was poisoned selected DNA file is shown in comparison.... Bumpkin: in order to be exhumed to 0 match result, this is only true if Rachel indeed! Techniques is useful in multiple aspects, such as hair colour, structure. The outcome of the project somerton man dna results a DNA is the column kit, name and Email indicate the and... Format of rsid starts with “ i ” and followed by a number eg!