Skip to main content
American Journal of Human Genetics logoLink to American Journal of Human Genetics
. 1986 Jul;39(1):123–132.

Empirical validation of the Essen-Möller probability of paternity.

M R Mickey, D W Gjertson, P I Terasaki
PMCID: PMC1684022  PMID: 3752079

Abstract

The validity of the Essen-Möller formulation probability of paternity is supported by demonstrating its correctness in a model genetic system--the ABO system. An analysis was made of 1,393 paternity cases typed uniformly for HLA-A and -B, ABO, Rh, and MNSs, in which the mother named one man only as the child's father and in which both mother and putative father identified themselves as Caucasian. For purposes of analysis, putative fathers not excluded from paternity by the four systems tested were regarded as actual fathers. The joint distribution of observed triplets of ABO phenotypes is shown to be statistically consistent with expected values, and the fractions of "true" fathers for a given triplet closely approximated the probability of paternity calculated using a realistic prior probability. Recent allegations of fallaciousness of the method by Li and Chakravarty and Aickin are discussed in terms of the results presented.

Full text

PDF
127

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aickin M. Some fallacies in the computation of paternity probabilities. Am J Hum Genet. 1984 Jul;36(4):904–915. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CEPPELLINI R., SINISCALCO M., SMITH C. A. The estimation of gene frequencies in a random-mating population. Ann Hum Genet. 1955 Oct;20(2):97–115. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1955.tb01360.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chakravarti A., Li C. C. Estimating the prior probability of paternity from the results of exclusion tests. Forensic Sci Int. 1984 Feb;24(2):143–147. doi: 10.1016/0379-0738(84)90094-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Li C. C., Chakravarti A. Basic fallacies in the formulation of the paternity index. Am J Hum Genet. 1985 Jul;37(4):809–818. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Human Genetics are provided here courtesy of American Society of Human Genetics

RESOURCES