The expected performance of single nucleotide polymorphism loci in paternity testing

Area of Science:

• Forensic Genetics
• Population Genetics
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Paternity testing relies on genetic markers to establish biological relationships.
• Population substructure and relatedness among individuals can complicate genetic testing.
• Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) offer a high-throughput method for genetic analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci for paternity testing.
• To assess the impact of population substructure and relatedness on paternity testing accuracy.
• To determine the number of SNP loci required for reliable paternity exclusion and inclusion.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci.
• Modeling of full trio and mother-unavailable paternity testing scenarios.
• Inclusion of population substructure and relatedness of fathers in calculations.
• Calculation of expected number of loci for specified mismatch probabilities.
• Reporting of paternity index thresholds.

Main Results:

• Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci demonstrate utility in complex paternity testing cases.
• The number of required SNP loci is influenced by population substructure and relatedness.
• Specific thresholds for paternity indices were analyzed in relation to SNP loci count.

Conclusions:

• Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci are valuable tools for forensic paternity testing.
• The study provides a framework for selecting the appropriate number of SNP loci for various paternity testing scenarios.
• Accurate paternity determination is achievable even with challenging genetic backgrounds using optimized SNP panels.