Allele frequency 2026-10-13
The allele frequency is the proportion of gene copies at a specified genetic locus carrying an allele. Two unrelated copies can have the same observed allele without being identical by descent; under independent sampling their matching probability is the sum of squared allele frequencies. Pedigree autozygosity instead traces copies to the same ancestral copy.
Autozygosity 2026-10-13
Autozygosity is homozygosity by descent: the maternal and paternal copies in one individual derive from the same ancestral copy. Unlike ordinary homozygosity, it concerns the ancestry of chromosome copies rather than only their observed states. In a pedigree with one ancestral disease-allele copy and fully penetrant recessive inheritance, every affected individual is autozygous for that copy.
For two individuals carrying labelled copies and , condensed identity coefficients give the probabilities of nine identity by descent patterns, identifying states that differ only by exchanging the two homologues within either individual. They retain within-individual autozygosity, which three ordinary outbred sharing coefficients omit. One convention is
Each block consists of copies identical by descent, and different blocks have distinct ancestral origins. For siblings whose parents are otherwise outbred first cousins, these coefficients are . This follows by conditioning on whether the parents share one ancestral copy and enumerating the four independent Mendelian segregation choices to their two children. The kinship coefficient is , here . Weir's discussion of identity states uses this convention.
Take “cousins” to mean first cousins with unrelated, outbred founders and unrelated spouses in the intervening generation. Interpret a homozygous chromosome as two copies identical by descent, and first use an idealization of independent, nonrecombining chromosome blocks. Ordinary sequence homozygosity is a different quantity: unrelated copies can have the same allele, so its probability also requires allele frequencies. Similarly, identity of an entire recombining chromosome requires a genetic map, not just a pedigree.
At a single autosomal locus, the probability of autozygosity in their child is the parents' kinship coefficient. Each of the two common grandparents contributes a path of length two from each parent, with probability . Thus the first-cousin inbreeding coefficient is
If there are independent autosomal blocks, the probability that none is autozygous is . Hence the usual 23-block idealization gives
The exponent describes the stated independent-block approximation; it is not a claim that all 23 human chromosome pairs inherit like autosomes.
Humans have 22 autosomal pairs. A son has one X and one Y and cannot have two homologous X copies. A daughter can have an autozygous X, with probability determined by the sex-linked cousin kinship calculation in part (b). Thus a sex-aware version is
where is the probability of a daughter, or is one or zero for a specified daughter's or son's sex. The independent assortment approximation applies between the autosomes and the X. Opposite-sex parentage alone does not determine : the parents may be cousins through their mothers, their fathers or one of each. Without these pedigree and chromosome-block assumptions, the wording does not specify a unique probability of an entire homozygous human chromosome.
Under the original assumptions the extra affected child is impossible. A generation-3 woman can have at most one copy of the unique introduced disease allele, while an unrelated outside spouse has none. Their children cannot inherit two defective copies. Thus both linkage and no-linkage likelihoods of the enlarged data are zero, and the original single-entry model has no defined updated LOD score. At least one assumption must be relaxed: another introduced disease allele, a new mutation, a phenocopy, or the relationship of the outside spouse.
If the model is enlarged to allow an independent outside genetic carrier, the reported extra information contains disease status but no new genetic marker genotypes. In the simple extension with fixed outside heterozygous-carrier probability , the old disease observations force both generation-2 family ancestors to be genetic carriers. A further generation-3 sister inherits the disease copy with probability , independently of the existing offspring transmissions. Given that she and her spouse are genetic carriers, exactly one of their three children is affected with probability
The additional phenotype likelihood is therefore . It is the same at and , so it cancels and the LOD remains unchanged in this phenotype-only, independent-carrier extension. If the identity of the affected child is specified, the factor is , which also cancels. No such conclusion applies automatically if new genetic marker data are supplied or the revised pedigree founder model couples this branch to the old genetic marker evidence.
In general an enlarged data set changes the score by
after choosing a coherent model with positive likelihood. The additional affected child alone does not justify assigning it the autozygosity evidence of an affected child of a cousin marriage.