PMCID
PMC12741096

Automatic detection of n-degree family members.

Frontiers in genetics
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Family-based genetic studies often require the identification of relatives up to a specified degree, but existing tools are either restricted to second-degree relatives, return entire connected pedigrees, or require multiple pre- or post-processing steps. We implemented five new functions, namely, , and in the R package LTFHPlus to address these limitations. constructs a directed graph from population-level trio data using the package and supports attaching additional attributes to individuals. From this graph, relatives of arbitrary degree can be identified efficiently. calculates a kinship matrix for all individuals in a (sub)graph, and reconstructs trio information from identified families, enabling downstream use with other pedigree tools. In addition, familial relations can be labelled from the graph using the function , and the total and average of each relation per proband can be plotted using . Using the publicly available minnbreast dataset, we constructed a graph containing 28,081 individuals and 30,720 familial edges. Across 1,000 repetitions, the median run-time for identifying all relatives up to the third degree for 500 randomly selected individuals was 0.03 s, and kinship matrix calculation had a median run-time of 1.57 s (single-threaded execution). These functions provide a reproducible, scalable, and interoperable solution for integrating family information into genetic analyses.

Year of Publication
2025
Journal
Frontiers in genetics
Volume
16
Pages
1708315
Date Published
12/2025
ISSN
1664-8021
DOI
10.3389/fgene.2025.1708315
PubMed ID
41458211
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