Next-generation kinship deduction for forensic and genealogical analysis

The use of DNA analysis to determine familial relationships is well established. In the paternity test, a small number of polymorphic markers (usually short-tandem repeats [STRs]) is analysed, and probabilities of true paternity can be established with near certainty. However, in some applications more distant relationships are of interest: in forensic casework 'familial searching' exploits the fact that a perpetrator and their relatives are expected to share 'similar' DNA profiles; in immigration cases a claim of relationship may need to be validated; in genealogical research participants may have hypotheses about their relationships which they wish to support. The kinship estimation problem is more difficult here because with each additional generation separating two individuals, the expected proportion of genome sharing halves. Additional power can be gained by adding more markers, e.g. by using genome-wide SNP chips.
The project will explore the potential of next-generation sequencing forensic multiplexes and genome-wide SNP/sequence data in relationship estimation. Forensically relevant data will be generated by typing multiplexes on existing pedigree DNA resources. Anonymised genome-wide SNP data will be obtained from collaborators and industrial partner DNA WorldWide. All these data will include uniparentally-inherited markers (Y chromosome, mitochondrial DNA) as well as biparentally-inherited (autosomal) markers, and markers on the X chromosome.