Current Sequencing Technology Makes Microhaplotypes a Powerful New Type of Genetic Marker for Forensics

• NCJ Number: 248162
• Author(s): Kenneth K. Kidd, Andrew J. Pakstis, William C. Speed, Robert Lagacé, Joseph Chang, Sharon Wootton, Eva Haigh, Judith R. Kidd
• Date Published: July 2014
• Length: 10 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: High resolution SNP panels for forensic identification of ancestry, family, and phenotype.; Further Development of SNP Panels for Forensics; Population Genetics of SNPs for Forensic Purposes

Annotation

This project’s goal was to accumulate sufficient evidence to validate the feasibility and utility of microhaps for forensic work, especially for distinguishing familial lineages.

Abstract

Microhaplotype (microhap) loci have extents of 200 base pairs (bp) or less. The match probabilities achieved by the pilot panel of 31 unlinked microhaps are already comparable to or better than the current 13 CODIS STRPs, and they compare favorably to the panel of 45 unlinked IIRSNPs the authors reported in an earlier study, at least for all the large major populations studied, which includes those routinely encountered in forensic labs in the United States and Europe. The panel also demonstrates distinct patterns of microhap frequencies for populations deriving from the major geographical regions of the world. This is helpful when forensic applications deal with ancestry inference. The authors strongly recommend the further development of microhaplotype loci. 2 tables, 4 figures, and 40 references