Development of a New Screening Method “Allele Matching Cut Off Score (AMCOS)” for Faster Kinship Analysis in Cases of Mass Disasters: A Proof of Concept Study

Abstract

kinship analysis in forensic is based on calculation of respective kinship indices. But calculation of the same is possible only when the subject under identification has been associated to a particular population whose gene frequency data is available for the particular set of markers used in forensic practices. In case of the mass disasters where a huge number of individuals are to be identified, gathering the population frequency data and calculating the kinship indices can be an intricate progression requiring a lot of time and huge resources. The present study is based on allele matching score values which doesn’t require the use of allele frequency data to establish kinship. This method is based on the allele sharing approach which simply refers to the number of shared alleles (1 or 2) between two individuals; also known as identical by state (IBS) alleles which might have been inherited from a recent common ancestor in which the alleles are identical by descendent (IBD). In case of mass disasters this method can be used to narrow down the investigation by screening the number of related individuals which can further be confirmed with other tests if required. This method has been tested for various statistical parameters and has shown promising values which suggests the potential use of this method in forensic practice. This method has been tested on siblings and grandparent-grandchildren by using autosomal and X-STR markers both as the reference samples from parents can’t always be available. The present study also compares the results shown by autosomal and X-STR markers in siblings and grandparent-grandchildren identification, thereby suggesting the better set of markers for siblings and grandparent-grandchildren identification.