TY - JOUR
T1 - DNA commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG)
T2 - Recommendations on the interpretation of Y-STR results in forensic analysis
AU - Roewer, Lutz
AU - Andersen, Mikkel Meyer
AU - Ballantyne, Jack
AU - Butler, John M.
AU - Caliebe, Amke
AU - Corach, Daniel
AU - D'Amato, Maria Eugenia
AU - Gusmão, Leonor
AU - Hou, Yiping
AU - de Knijff, Peter
AU - Parson, Walther
AU - Prinz, Mechthild
AU - Schneider, Peter M.
AU - Taylor, Duncan
AU - Vennemann, Marielle
AU - Willuweit, Sascha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Forensic genetic laboratories perform a large amount of STR analyses of the Y chromosome, in particular to analyze the male part of complex DNA mixtures. However, the statistical interpretation of evidence retrieved from Y-STR haplotypes is challenging. Due to the uni-parental inheritance mode, Y-STR loci are connected to each other and thus haplotypes show patterns of relationship on the familial and population level. This precludes the treatment of Y-STR loci as independently inherited variables and the application of the product rule. Instead, the dependency structure of Y-STRs needs to be included in the haplotype frequency estimation process affecting also the current paradigm of a random match probability that is in the autosomal case approximated by the population frequency assuming unrelatedness of sampled individuals. Information on the degree of paternal relatedness in the suspect population as well as on the familial network is however needed to interpret Y-chromosomal results in the best possible way. The previous recommendations of the DNA commission of the ISFG on the use of Y-STRs in forensic analysis published more than a decade ago [1] cover the interpretation issue only marginally. The current recommendations address a number of topics (frequency estimators, databases, metapopulations, LR formulation, triage, rapidly mutating Y-STRs) with relevance for the Y-STR statistics and recommend a decision-based procedure, which takes into account legal requirements as well as availability of population data and statistical methods.
AB - Forensic genetic laboratories perform a large amount of STR analyses of the Y chromosome, in particular to analyze the male part of complex DNA mixtures. However, the statistical interpretation of evidence retrieved from Y-STR haplotypes is challenging. Due to the uni-parental inheritance mode, Y-STR loci are connected to each other and thus haplotypes show patterns of relationship on the familial and population level. This precludes the treatment of Y-STR loci as independently inherited variables and the application of the product rule. Instead, the dependency structure of Y-STRs needs to be included in the haplotype frequency estimation process affecting also the current paradigm of a random match probability that is in the autosomal case approximated by the population frequency assuming unrelatedness of sampled individuals. Information on the degree of paternal relatedness in the suspect population as well as on the familial network is however needed to interpret Y-chromosomal results in the best possible way. The previous recommendations of the DNA commission of the ISFG on the use of Y-STRs in forensic analysis published more than a decade ago [1] cover the interpretation issue only marginally. The current recommendations address a number of topics (frequency estimators, databases, metapopulations, LR formulation, triage, rapidly mutating Y-STRs) with relevance for the Y-STR statistics and recommend a decision-based procedure, which takes into account legal requirements as well as availability of population data and statistical methods.
KW - Evidential weight
KW - Frequency estimation
KW - Population data
KW - Y chromosome
KW - YHRD
U2 - 10.1016/j.fsigen.2020.102308
DO - 10.1016/j.fsigen.2020.102308
M3 - Editorial
C2 - 32622324
AN - SCOPUS:85087199395
VL - 48
JO - Forensic Science International: Genetics
JF - Forensic Science International: Genetics
SN - 1872-4973
M1 - 102308
ER -