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Familial searching on DNA mixtures with dropout
1Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands; VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Forensic Science International. Genetics
|February 25, 2016
Summary
Familial searching can be extended to mixed and degraded DNA profiles, even with allelic dropout. This forensic technique performs well on mixtures, sometimes outperforming single-source profiles with fewer loci.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Science
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Familial searching typically requires high-quality, single-source DNA profiles.
- Its application is usually limited to unambiguous DNA identifications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the performance of familial searching on mixed DNA profiles with and without allelic dropout.
- To evaluate the utility of semi-continuous (binary) models for likelihood ratio computation in these scenarios.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a semi-continuous (binary) model for computing likelihood ratios.
- Assessed familial searching performance on mixed DNA profiles, including those with allelic dropout.
- Compared results with single-source profiles across varying numbers of loci.
Main Results:
- Mixed DNA profiles with allelic dropout can perform comparably to or better than single-source profiles with fewer loci.
- Dropout probabilities can aid in separating donors in mixed profiles.
- Information loss from mixed/degraded profiles may be less than using fewer loci.
Conclusions:
- Familial searching can be effectively extended to mixed and degraded DNA profiles.
- Current limitations on familial searching based on profile quality may be unnecessarily restrictive.
- The findings support the inclusion of mixed and degraded profiles in familial searching databases.
