The impact of cross-kingdom molecular forensics on genetic privacy

Abstract

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.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Elhaik, E. Ahsanuddin, S. Robinson, J.M. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8108-3271 Foster, E.M. Mason, C.E.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s). 2021. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Keywords:	Genomics; Genetic privacy; Metagenomics; Next-generation sequencing; Forensics; Genetic discrimination; Microbiomics
Dates:	Published: 20 May 2021 Published (online): 20 May 2021 Accepted: 7 April 2021
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Landscape Architecture (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	15 Jun 2021 10:56
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2021 10:56
Status:	Published
Publisher:	BMC
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1186/s40168-021-01076-z
Related URLs:	PubMed URL
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:174807

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The impact of cross-kingdom molecular forensics on genetic privacy

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