Is he or is he not the father?

• Published in: Forensic science international. Genetics supplement series Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. e186 - e187
• Main Authors: El Andari, Ansar, Mansour, Issam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ireland Ltd 2013
• Subjects: Consanguinity; Endogamy; Lebanon; Parentage testing; Paternity; STR; Lebanon; STR; Parentage testing; Consanguinity; Paternity; Endogamy
• ISSN: 1875-1768; 1875-175X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigss.2013.10.096

Parentage studies in the Lebanese population, which has consanguineous marriage rates ranging from 32% up to 44% and endogamy average of 82%, could be prone to high levels of uncertainty since individuals involved in the parentage dispute may share alleles more than in random mating. Consequently, falsely alleged parents are less likely to exhibit allele mismatches with the child's genotype, in particular when the investigations is conducted in limited conditions such as Duo families and using low STR markers profile sizes. In the present study, ten informative paternity cases showing one mismatch were reevaluated. Different profiles (SGM, Identifiler, PP16HS or ESI 17 kits as well as 24 STR marker combination profile) were used throughout. Also, Duo cases were simulated out of the Trio cases. In several Duo cases, results shifted from non-parenthood to positive parentage conclusions when increasing STR markers from 12 to 16 and/or 24. However, no significant difference in the paternity conclusions could be observed for Trio families when using different profile sizes unless when using the SGM profile. When simulating Duo cases from Trio ones, compromising results were obtained under SGM, Identifiler, PP16HS and/or ESI 17 markers. All compromising cases were resolved under 24 markers. In conclusion, due to the effect of consanguinity and endogamy on the Lebanese population, we recommend the use of 24 STR markers DNA profile for any DNA interpretation, especially when accepting Duo cases requests.