Validation of the Utility of the Genetically Shared Regions of Chromosomes (GD-ICS) Measuring Method in Identifying Complicated Genetic Relatedness.

Background: Relatives share more genomic regions than unrelated individuals, with closer relatives sharing more regions. This concept, paired with the increased availability of high-throughput single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technologies, has made it feasible to measure the shared chromosomal regions between individuals to assess their level of relation to each other. However, such techniques have remained in the conceptual rather than practical stages in terms of applying measures or indices.