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New technology allows effective assessment of cases where remains are severely decomposed, lack corroborative information or have no close relatives, contributing to overcoming the technical bottlenecks of the currently applied mitochondrial DNA assessment method. Download An examiner of the DNA Assessment Center analyzes a sample of martyrs remains - Photo: VGP/TGFor many years, the work of searching, gathering and identifying martyrs remains has always been a particularly important political and humanitarian task, demonstrating the nations ethic of when you drink water, remember the source. However, this is also a field that faces many difficulties, especially in terms of science and technology when most of the remains have been severely decomposed over a long period of time. Professor Dr. Chu Hoang Ha, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said that currently the technology for DNA assessment of martyrs remains in Vietnam is mainly based on DNA markers on the mitochondrial genome. Statistics from the DNA Examination Center (Institute of Biology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) show that, in the period from September 2019 to 2021, the Center received and examined 4,276 samples of martyrs remains. Of these, only 1,205 samples had mitochondrial DNA data that met the assessment requirements and only 9 cases were successfully matched with DNA data of martyrs relatives. The remaining results have been handed over to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs) to serve the purpose of building a database and continuing to compare when more relative information is available. The above results show that the mitochondrial DNA assessment technology has shown certain effectiveness, especially in cases where there is empirical information or the relatives need to be matched. However, the matching rate is still low, mainly due to the lack of DNA data of martyrs relatives for comparison. Technically, this method also reveals many limitations when applied to severely decomposed remains samples - a common situation in Vietnam. DNA is often strongly fractured, the length of the obtained fragments is very short (on average only 50-70 bp), making the rate of obtaining qualified data for comparison only about 20%....Access to new technology from global scientific breakthroughs The rapid development of science and technology, especially generations of DNA sequencing equipment and bioinformatics technology, has created revolutionary turning points in the field of ancient DNA analysis. In 2022, scientist Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his breakthrough achievements in researching the DNA of Neanderthal ancient bones dating back about 40,000 years. These achievements open up a completely new approach for DNA assessment of ancient bones in general and assessment of martyrs remains in Vietnam in particular. On that basis, genetic markers in the nuclear genome, especially is a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), which has been widely applied around the world and is considered a potential forensic tool. SNP is the most common type of genetic variation in humans, with the outstanding advantage of only needing to analyze very short DNA segments - especially suitable for severely degraded biological samples. This is considered a scientific solution to the problem of assessing the remains of Vietnamese martyrs after decades of burial in harsh tropical climate conditions. Mastering new DNA assessment technology (NGS-SNP) The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology was assigned by the Prime Minister to be the focal point for implementing the ODA project Improving the capacity to assess remains in war for the period 2024-2026, funded by the US Government, with the technical coordination of International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). The Center for DNA Examination, Institute of Biology is the unit directly implementing the project. To date, the project has achieved important results, marking Vietnams gradual research, development and mastery of new DNA examination technology based on new generation gene sequencing combined with analysis of SNP markers (NGS-SNP). Specifically, scientists have completed the DNA extraction process for Vietnamese remains samples on the basis of testing more than 100 samples representing many levels. different decomposition, thereby increasing the successful extraction efficiency from 22% to 80%. The new generation gene sequencing system has been successfully established and operated; SNP data management and analysis software is received and mastered. Notably, this software allows calculating blood relationships according to both paternal and maternal lines, extending to 4-5 generations, fundamentally overcoming the limitations of the mitochondrial DNA method. The new technological process has been piloted at Tra Linh Martyrs Cemetery (Cao Bang province). The results showed that, out of a total of 58 remains samples, up to 54 samples (93%) successfully extracted DNA and obtained SNP data eligible for comparison - a rate superior to previous methods. Based on the data obtained, scientists compared with relatives of 14 families of martyrs and determined the identity of the remains for 2 families. The cases that have not been matched are mainly due to the lack of DNA data of relatives for comparison. Professor, Dr. Chu Hoang Ha said, in the next stage, the technological process willNew DNA identification is expected to be deployed on a larger scale at Rong Gieng Martyrs Cemetery, with about 1,000 unidentified martyrs graves. From the results achieved, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology recommends Steering Committee 515 to soon direct the introduction of the new DNA identification technology process (NGS-SNP) into official application in identifying martyrs remains. Accordingly, mitochondrial DNA assessment technology should o
