A method for positive forensic identification of samples from extremely low-coverage sequence data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Determining whether two DNA samples originate from the same individual is difficult when the amount of retrievable DNA is limited. This is often the case for ancient, historic, and forensic samples. The most widely used approaches rely on amplification of a defined panel of multi-allelic markers and comparison to similar data from other samples. When the amount retrievable DNA is low these approaches fail.

Results

We describe a new method for assessing whether shotgun DNA sequence data from two samples are consistent with originating from the same or different individuals. Our approach makes use of the large catalogs of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to maximize the chances of observing potentially discriminating alleles. We further reduce the amount

SUBMITTER: Vohr SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4672566 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature