Testing methods for quantifying Monte Carlo variation for categorical variables in Probabilistic Genotyping
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posted on 2020-11-03, 03:00 authored by Jo-Anne Bright, Duncan Taylor, James CurranJames Curran, John S. BuckletonTwo methods for applying a lower bound to the variation induced by the Monte Carlo effect are trialled. One of these is implemented in the widely used probabilistic genotyping system, STRmix™. Neither approach is giving the desired 99% coverage. In some cases the coverage is much lower than the desired 99%. The discrepancy (i.e. the distance between the LR corresponding to the desired coverage and the LR observed coverage at 99%) is not large. For example, the discrepancy of 0.23 for approach 1 suggests the lower bounds should be moved downwards by a factor of 1.7 to achieve the desired 99% coverage.
Although less effective than desired these methods provide a layer of conservatism that is additional to the other layers. These other layers are from factors such as the conservatism within the sub-population model, the choice of conservative measures of co-ancestry, the consideration of relatives within the population and the resampling method used for allele probabilities, all of which tend to understate the strength of the findings.
