NCJ Number
239567
Journal
Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2012 Pages: 477-486
Date Published
July 2012
Length
10 pages
Annotation
An evaluation was carried out to determine the effect on routine forensic calculations when incorporating STRs D12S391 and vWA.
Abstract
These loci are co-located on the same arm of chromosome 12. It has been suggested that allelic association could result in over-estimates of strength-of-evidence calculations. In the first place, the authors argue it is very unlikely that genotypes collected from typical cosmopolitan forensic databases can provide meaningful information about effects attributable to physical linkage. Since admixture is the most likely cause of allelic association in modern populations, the authors specifically evaluate this effect. The authors used computer simulation as the preferred approach to generate populations with disequilibrium and observe the effect on match probability. Although the study specifically evaluated the linkage between D12S391 and vWA, the methods described in this paper can be extended and generalized to evaluate linkage effects between any pair of loci where the recombination rate is known. Many jurisdictions apply a subpopulation correction following the standard method of Balding and Nichols. Such corrections would appear to be more than adequate to compensate for any increase in match probability that the study was able to create by this admixture. Linkage is likely to have an appreciable effect on relatedness calculations in short pedigrees in some but not all instances. The authors examined those circumstances where an effect is likely and give formulae for some common situations. The complexity of these calculations is a cause for concern in some laboratories. The authors discuss possible strategies that might be employed and plausible effects. (Publisher Abstract)