Efficiency evaluation of common forensic genetic markers for parentage identification involving close relatives

Authors:Zhang, X. R.; Meng, H. T.; Shi, J. F.; Wang, N.; Wang, Z. Y.; Zhang, B.; Zhu, B. F.*; Guo, Y. X.*
Source:Forensic Science International, 2023, 345: 111594.
DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2023.111594

Summary

To explore the efficacy of commonly used forensic identification panels in complex paternity testing of trios that involved close relatives, we wrote a code by R to generate 10,000 pedigrees at 20 CODIS STR, 21 non-CODIS STR and 30 InDel loci in Chinese five ethnic groups based on their allele frequencies. Parentage identification index--cumulative paternity index (CPI) value was set as output and was further analyzed to evaluate the performance of the aforementioned panels in complex paternity testing when the alleged parent is a random individual, biological parent, grandparent, sibling of biological parent, half-sibling of biological parent, etc. The results showed that the false inclusion of parent sibling posed as parent de-monstrated no statistically significant difference from that of grandparent posed as parent. The scenarios where both biological parent and alleged parent were consanguineous to the other parent were also si-mulated. The results revealed that the complexity of paternity testing would raise when biological parents were consanguineous and the alleged parent was a close relative of theirs. Despite the values of non-conformity number could vary in different genetic relationships, populations and panels, 20 CODIS STRs and 21 non-CODIS STRs performed satisfactorily in most simulated scenarios. However, the joint use of 20 CODIS STRs and 21 non-CODIS STRs is more recommendable when resolving the paternity testing of the incest mating case. Overall, the current study could be regarded as a worthwhile reference in complex paternity testing of trios that involved close relatives.

  • Institution
    西安交通大学; 南方医科大学

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