Dermatoglyphics to predict genetic disorders
By Ashwin K. Jainarayanan, Nithishwer Mourouganand
In recent times, genetic disorders have risen to be one of the significant causes of mortality. As we improve our understanding of the human genome, we see that nearly all diseases have a genetic component linked to them. Early diagnosis of these genetic diseases is crucial for successful treatment.
The dermatoglyphics or the fingerprints of a human individual are among the very few features that can uniquely identify an individual and are determined by various phenomena, including genetic and chromosomal factors. Thus the analysis of fingerprint patterns might reveal insights into the genetic makeup of an individual. Fingerprints are proven to act as reliable biological markers for several medical conditions such as hypertension and other coronary diseases (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihj.2018.07.007). Fingerprint patterns can be exploited using artificial intelligence and cutting-edge machine learning algorithms, which can be trained to detect markers that correspond to several genetic disorders.