Journal
FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL-GENETICS
Volume 16, Issue -, Pages 216-225Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.02.001
Keywords
Short tandem repeats; Shannon's equivocation; Forensic marker analysis; Allelic association; Linkage disequilibrium
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Short tandem repeat (STR) markers are widely and continuously used in forensic applications. However, past research has demonstrated substantial allelic association between STR markers on both autosomes and the X chromosome, leading to partially redundant information that these markers can provide. Here, we quantify the allelic association between Y-chromosomal STR markers that are part of established forensic panels, separately for three different continental groups. We further propose a sequential marker selection procedure that is based on Shannon's equivocation and that accounts for allelic association between STR markers, leading to a maximal gain in independent information. In application to three real-world data sets, we demonstrate the procedure's superior performance when compared to single-locus diversity selection strategies, resulting in the optimal marker set for a given data set in the majority of marker subsets. Noting the inferior performance of the established Y-STR marker panels in a retrospective investigation, we suggest that future forensic marker selection should be guided, besides by other technical selection criteria, by an equivocation-based approach to obtain maximally discriminatory marker sets at minimal cost. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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