Inclusion
Definition
All obligate alleles are accounted for. Inclusion is probabilistic, never absolute, and is reported as a CPI plus probability of paternity.
- Requirement
- All obligate alleles accounted for
- Nature
- Probabilistic, never absolute
- Reported as
- CPI and probability of paternity
- Opposite outcome
- Exclusion
Common questions
Why is inclusion never reported as absolute certainty?+
Even with all obligate alleles matching, a coincidental match from an unrelated relative or population allele-frequency overlap remains statistically possible, so results are expressed as a likelihood, typically a probability of paternity above 99.9 percent, rather than a certainty.
What is the difference between inclusion and exclusion in paternity testing?+
Exclusion occurs when the alleged father lacks an obligate allele the child must have inherited from the biological father, ruling him out definitively, while inclusion only supports a probable match backed by statistical likelihood.
Related terms
- Combined Paternity Index (CPI)
- The product of all individual paternity indices across all marker systems tested. Assumes independence of the marker systems. The CPI is a...
- Deficient Paternity Test
- Paternity inferred from the alleged father's relatives (grandparents, siblings) when the alleged father himself is unavailable or deceased.
- Exclusion
- The categorical conclusion that one or more examined features are clearly inconsistent in a way that cannot be explained by projection angle,...
- Motherless Paternity Test
- Paternity analysis where the mother's sample is unavailable. CPI thresholds are raised because the obligate paternal allele cannot be inferred from the...
- Mutation Rate
- STR loci mutate at roughly 0.001 to 0.005 per generation. A single one-step mismatch is typically scored as a possible mutation, not...
- Obligate Paternal Allele
- The allele in the child's genotype that did not come from the mother and therefore must have come from the biological father.
- Paternity Index (PI)
- A likelihood ratio that compares the probability of the observed serological profile if the alleged father is the biological father to the...
- Presumption of Legitimacy
- Statutory presumption that a child born during the continuance of a valid marriage is the legitimate child of the husband. Rebuttable only...
- Probability of Paternity (W)
- The posterior probability that the alleged father is the biological father, calculated from the CPI and a prior probability using Bayes' theorem....