biostudies-literatureUnknown126(6)Hamilton MGThe cost of parentage assignment precludes its application in many selective breeding programmes and molecular ecology studies, and/or limits the circumstances or number of individuals to which it is applied. Pooling samples from more than one individual, and using appropriate genetic markers and algorithms to determine parental contributions to pools, is one means of reducing the cost of parentage assignment. This paper describes and validates a novel maximum likelihood (ML) parentage-assignment method, that can be used to accurately assign parentage to pooled samples of multiple individuals-previously published ML methods are applicable to samples of single individuals only-using low-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 'quantitative' (also referred to as 'continuous') genotype dHeredity884-895https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8178362biostudies-literatureMaximum likelihood parentage assignment using quantitative genotypes.PMC8178362Hamilton MGfalseMaximum likelihood parentage assignment using quantitative genotypes.The cost of parentage assignment precludes its application in many selective breeding programmes and molecular ecology studies, and/or limits the circumstances or number of individuals to which it is applied. Pooling samples from more than one individual, and using appropriate genetic markers and algorithms to determine parental contributions to pools, is one means of reducing the cost of parentage assignment. This paper describes and validates a novel maximum likelihood (ML) parentage-assignment method, that can be used to accurately assign parentage to pooled samples of multiple individuals-previously published ML methods are applicable to samples of single individuals only-using low-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 'quantitative' (also referred to as 'continuous') genotype d2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Jun2025-04-22T21:57:37.766Z2025-04-06T03:52:52.458ZS-EPMC81783623369253310.1038/s41437-021-00421-0