title: PopAffiliator: online calculator for individual affiliation to a major population group based on 17 autosomal short tandem repeat genotype profile.
abstract: Because of their sensitivity and high level of discrimination, short tandem repeat (STR) maker systems are currently the method of choice in routine forensic casework and data banking, usually in multiplexes up to 15-17 loci. Constraints related to sample amount and quality, frequently encountered in forensic casework, will not allow to change this picture in the near future, notwithstanding the technological developments. In this study, we present a free online calculator named PopAffiliator ( http://cracs.fc.up.pt/popaffiliator ) for individual population affiliation in the three main population groups, Eurasian, East Asian and sub-Saharan African, based on genotype profiles for the common set of STRs used in forensics. This calculator performs affiliation based on a model constructed using machine learning techniques. The model was constructed using a data set of approximately fifteen thousand individuals collected for this work. The accuracy of individual population affiliation is approximately 86%, showing that the common set of STRs routinely used in forensics provide a considerable amount of information for population assignment, in addition to being excellent for individual identification.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, Porto, Portugal. lpereira@ipatimup.pt
authors.forename: Luísa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Farida
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alshamali
authors.forename: Rune
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andreassen
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.forename: Wasun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chantratita
authors.forename: Nam Soo
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Clotilde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coudray
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dugoujon
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Espinoza
authors.forename: Fabricio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: González-Andrade
authors.forename: Sibte
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hadi
authors.forename: Uta-Dorothee
authors.initials: UD
authors.lastname: Immel
authors.forename: Catalin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marian
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Martin
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.forename: Walther
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Parson
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perone
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rangel Villalobos
authors.forename: Zhaoshu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Lev
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhivotovsky
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.forename: Nuno A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fonseca
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003201:Computers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D044382:Population Groups / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers