Selection and evaluation of bi-allelic autosomal SNP markers for paternity testing in Koreans

Due to the advantages of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in forensic science, many forensic SNP panels have been developed. However, the existing SNP panels have a problem that they do not reflect allele frequencies in Koreans or the number of markers is not sufficient to perform paternity testing. Here, we filtered candidate SNPs from the Ansan-Ansung cohort data and selected 200 SNPs with high allele frequencies. To reduce the risk of false inclusion and false exclusion, we calculated likelihood ratios of alleged father-child pairs from simulated families when the alleged father is the true father, the close relative of the true father, and the random man. As a result, we estimated that 160 SNPs were needed to perform paternity testing. Furthermore, we performed validation using Twin-Family cohort data. When 160 selected SNPs were used to calculate the likelihood ratio, paternity and non-paternity were accurately distinguished. Our set of 160 SNPs could be useful for paternity testing in Koreans.

Automated summary

This study identified 160 SNPs with high allele frequencies for paternity testing in Koreans by filtering candidate SNPs from the Ansan-Ansung cohort data and calculating likelihood ratios. Validation using Twin-Family cohort data showed accurate distinction between paternity and non-paternity when using the selected 160 SNPs for calculation.