Y-chromosomal kinship estimation for forensic familial searching: YMrCA to the rescue

The Y-chromosome can be used as an identification method to find paternally related males of the perpetrator. When a close Y-haplotype match is identified, the time to their most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) needs to be estimated to reconstruct their genealogy. To date, two mutation models and three online tMRCA calculators exist. But, they do not include individual mutation rates with multi-step changes, while ignoring hidden multiple, back or parallel modifications. To improve tMRCA estimation, we developed a user-friendly calculator, the ‘YMrCA’, including all previously mentioned mutation characteristics.
Source: Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research