Use of sibling pairs to determine the familial searching efficiency of forensic databases.
Pairs of individuals tested at the 13 CODIS core STR loci to determine sibship were used as a source of familial data that was seeded into a larger data set of 12,000 plus DNA profiles simulating a CODIS-like offender database. To determine whether known sibs could be found in the larger database two methods were used: degree of allele sharing and a kinship matching approach. The allele sharing method detected 62 of 109 of the known sib pairs (57%) while kinship matching detected 90 of the sib pairs (83%). Although kinship matching was the more efficient method of the two, the number of false positives generated prior to finding a true match was inversely related to the likelihood of sibship suggesting that many true siblings would not be easily found in a large forensic database via familial searching techniques.
Reid
Thomas M
TM
DNA Diagnostics Center, Fairfield, OH 45014, USA. treid@dnacenter.com
Baird
Michael L
ML
Reid
John P
JP
Lee
Susannie C
SC
Lee
Richard F
RF
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid / Q000592:standards*; D005190:Family; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D035781:Siblings
D004247:DNA