{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T11:13:44Z","timestamp":1765970024022,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765929600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of People\u2019s Republic of China","award":["82072119"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82072119"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China","award":["2021A1515010585"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021A1515010585"]}]},{"name":"open project of Beijing Engineering Research Center of Crime Scene Evidence Examination","award":["2024CSEEKFKT02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024CSEEKFKT02"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Genes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: The further application of high-coverage whole genome sequencing in fields such as paleogenomics, forensic investigations, and conservation genomics is impeded by two major barriers: extremely high costs and stringent sample requirements. Utilizing low-coverage sequencing offers a practical solution to these constraints; however, this approach introduces a primary challenge\u2014the necessity to reconstruct distorted genomic information for downstream analysis. Methods: Analytical experiments conducted on low- to medium-coverage sequencing data confirmed the accuracy of several existing methods for inferring relationships up to the third degree and distinguishing unrelated individuals. Subsequently, efforts were made to evaluate allele-frequency-independent methods within animal genomics, where analyses are likely to encounter challenges such as uncertain allele frequencies, diverse sample types, and suboptimal sample quality. Kinship inference was performed on a total of 33 pairs of animal samples across three species, comprising nine parent\u2013offspring pairs and four full-sibling pairs. Results: The analysis revealed that two efficient algorithm implementations (READ and KIN) successfully identified all unrelated pairs. Notably, among the various algorithms utilized, only KIN exhibited confusion between first- and second-degree relationships when subjected to. Conclusions: This study has filled a critical gap in the existing literature by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of various algorithms on low-coverage sequencing data derived from authentic human and animal samples, accompanied by detailed ground truth\u2014a vital task that has been overlooked.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/genes16121513","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]],"date-time":"2025-12-17T10:41:23Z","timestamp":1765968083000},"page":"1513","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Predicting Genetic Relatedness from Low-Coverage Sequencing Data of Human and Animal Genomes Using Various Algorithms"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Xinyi","family":"Lin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Province Translational Forensic Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuang","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Province Translational Forensic Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qifan","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MPS\u2019s Key Laboratory of Forensic Genetics, National Engineering Laboratory for Crime Scene Evidence Investigation and Examination, Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security (MPS), Beijing 100038, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuting","family":"Lei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Province Translational Forensic Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3530-8374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhen","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Province Translational Forensic Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2345-4980","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xueling","family":"Ou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Province Translational Forensic Medicine Engineering Technology Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"200","DOI":"10.1007\/s12024-007-0018-1","article-title":"STRs vs. SNPs: Thoughts on the future of forensic DNA testing","volume":"3","author":"Butler","year":"2007","journal-title":"Forensic Sci. 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