Statistical Parameters for Evaluating the Identification Power of STR Loci.

Lee, Hye Seung; Lee, Jae Won; Han, Gil Ro; Hwang, Juck Joon

Original article

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 1998;22(2):13-19.
Published online October 31, 1998.

Statistical Parameters for Evaluating the Identification Power of STR Loci.

Hye Seung Lee, Jae Won Lee, Gil Ro Han, Juck Joon Hwang

¹Department of Legal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Korea.
²Department of Statistics, Korea University College of Political Economy, Korea.

Abstract

When we intend to do the personal identification using DNA profiles, it will obviously be better to use as much information as possible. The power of identification is increased by using the genetic marker system such as VNTRs or STRs. Although STRs do not have many alleles per locus as VNTRs, these can be compensated by a large number of loci that are potentially usable. However, it will be more efficient to use a morphic loci. Therefore, prior to choose the genetic marker system of STRs for identification, it is essential to consider the statistical parameters of each STR locus, such as obs-H(observed heterozygosity), exp-H(expected heterozygosity), pM(probability of match), DI(discrimination index), PD(power of discrimination), MEC(mean exclusion chance), MEP(mean exclusion paternity), PIC(polymorphic information content) et al. In this article, we described the exact meaning of statistical parameters for the purpose of identification.