PopAffiliator: online calculator for individual affiliation to a major population group based on 17 autosomal short tandem repeat genotype profile.
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.
Pereira
Luísa
L
Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, Porto, Portugal. lpereira@ipatimup.pt
Alshamali
Farida
F
Andreassen
Rune
R
Ballard
Ruth
R
Chantratita
Wasun
W
Cho
Nam Soo
NS
Coudray
Clotilde
C
Dugoujon
Jean-Michel
JM
Espinoza
Marta
M
González-Andrade
Fabricio
F
Hadi
Sibte
S
Immel
Uta-Dorothee
UD
Marian
Catalin
C
Gonzalez-Martin
Antonio
A
Mertens
Gerhard
G
Parson
Walther
W
Perone
Carlos
C
Prieto
Lourdes
L
Takeshita
Haruo
H
Rangel Villalobos
Héctor
H
Zeng
Zhaoshu
Z
Zhivotovsky
Lev
L
Camacho
Rui
R
Fonseca
Nuno A
NA
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*
D005819:Genetic Markers