Sherlock's Toolkit: A forensic DNA analysis system

Abstract

DNA sequence analysis has multiple forensic applications. The justice system currently uses sizes of STRs as well as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for DNA evidence. With recent advancements in DNA sequencing technologies, inclusion of additional polymorphic loci, including SNPs, enable new useful analyses while maintaining backwards compatibility with STR sizing. Sherlock's Toolkit, developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, is an open source, scalable system for the integration and automation of STR and SNP-based analysis for high-throughput sequence data. The toolkit includes modules for a range of kinship, biogeographic ancestry, replicate, and mixture analyses.