Externally Visible Characteristics (EVCs)
Definition
Traits a witness could see: eye, hair, skin colour, freckling, hair shape, height. The EU-funded VISAGE consortium targets this set.
- Examples
- Eye, hair, skin colour, freckling, hair shape, height
- Consortium
- EU-funded VISAGE project
- Field
- DNA phenotyping and RNA profiling
- Related concept
- Overlaps with the singular EVC, broader trait set
Common questions
What does the VISAGE consortium add beyond earlier panels like HIrisPlex?+
VISAGE extended prediction beyond pigmentation traits, such as eye, hair and skin colour, to additional traits like hair shape, and aimed to combine phenotype prediction with biogeographic ancestry and age estimation into integrated forensic DNA intelligence tools.
Is freckling density a reliable standalone predictor of identity?+
No single EVC trait, including freckling, is reliable enough alone to identify an individual. These traits are combined into a broader intelligence profile that narrows an investigation, always alongside other evidence, rather than used in isolation.
Related terms
- Biogeographic Ancestry Inference (BGA)
- Statistical assignment of a donor to continental ancestry groups using Ancestry-Informative SNPs (AIMs). Distinct from racial categorisation.
- Body-Fluid-Specific Transcripts
- RNA markers expressed only in one fluid: HBB for blood, STATH for saliva, PRM1 for semen, MUC4 for vaginal fluid, MMP7 for...
- Deconvolution
- A computational technique that estimates the PSF and inverts its effect to recover a sharper image. The quality depends entirely on how...
- Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP)
- Prediction of externally visible characteristics, ancestry and age of an unknown donor from SNP genotypes. Investigative lead, not identification.
- HIrisPlex-S
- A 41-SNP externally visible characteristics (EVC) panel for simultaneous prediction of eye, hair, and skin colour, developed at Erasmus MC Rotterdam by...
- mRNA / miRNA
- Messenger and micro RNA. Forensic RNA profiling uses tissue-specific transcripts of both classes to identify body fluids.
- Parabon Snapshot
- A commercial DNA phenotyping service (Parabon NanoLabs, Virginia, US) that genotypes thousands of SNPs from a crime-scene sample and uses machine learning...
- SNP
- Single Nucleotide Polymorphism. A one-base variant at a defined position. FDP uses SNP panels, not STRs.