Informativeness of genetic markers for forensic inference--An information theoretic approach

TY - JOUR

T1 - Informativeness of genetic markers for forensic inference--An information theoretic approach

AU - Lauritzen, Steffen L.

AU - Mazumder, Anjali

PY - 2008/8/1

Y1 - 2008/8/1

N2 - Forensic inference from genetic markers uses highly polymorphic multi-locus genotypes. Measures of informativeness can aid in selecting efficient genetic markers. Existing measures do not account for multiple sources of genetic variation (i.e. mutation, silent alleles, etc.) and they are not directly applicable to complex identification problems. Using information theoretic principles within a probabilistic expert system (PES) we define a general measure of informativeness, Iq, of a marker for answering a forensic query. Iq gives a slightly different ranking of most genetic markers as its comparable measures. Accounting for sources of variation such as mutation, silent and null alleles reduces Iq and may further affect ranking. This criterion has a solid theoretical basis and can account for multiple sources of genetic variation and other anomalies. It can be directly applied to a variety of planning issues concerning the type, quantity and specific choice of markers for use in paternity testing and more general forensic problems.

AB - Forensic inference from genetic markers uses highly polymorphic multi-locus genotypes. Measures of informativeness can aid in selecting efficient genetic markers. Existing measures do not account for multiple sources of genetic variation (i.e. mutation, silent alleles, etc.) and they are not directly applicable to complex identification problems. Using information theoretic principles within a probabilistic expert system (PES) we define a general measure of informativeness, Iq, of a marker for answering a forensic query. Iq gives a slightly different ranking of most genetic markers as its comparable measures. Accounting for sources of variation such as mutation, silent and null alleles reduces Iq and may further affect ranking. This criterion has a solid theoretical basis and can account for multiple sources of genetic variation and other anomalies. It can be directly applied to a variety of planning issues concerning the type, quantity and specific choice of markers for use in paternity testing and more general forensic problems.

KW - Bayesian networks

KW - Entropy

KW - Mutual information

KW - Paternity testing

KW - Planning

KW - Probabilistic expert systems

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=50349091227&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.fsigss.2007.10.144

DO - 10.1016/j.fsigss.2007.10.144

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:50349091227

SN - 1875-1768

VL - 1

SP - 652

EP - 653

JO - Forensic Science International: Genetics. Supplement Series

JF - Forensic Science International: Genetics. Supplement Series

IS - 1

ER -