A Note on Algorithms for Genotype and Allele Elimination in Complex Pedigrees With Incomplete Genotype Data

Elimination of genotypes or alleles for each individual or meiosis, which are inconsistent with observed genotypes, is a component of various genetic analyses of complex pedigrees. Computational efficiency of the elimination algorithm is critical in some applications such as genotype sampling via descent graph Markov chains. We present an allele elimination algorithm and two genotype elimination algorithms for complex pedigrees with incomplete genotype data. We modify all three algorithms to incorporate inheritance restrictions imposed by a complete or incomplete descent graph such that every inconsistent complete descent graph is detected in any pedigree, and every inconsistent incomplete descent graph is detected in any pedigree without loops with the genotype elimination algorithms. Allele elimination requires less CPU time and memory, but does not always eliminate all inconsistent alleles, even in pedigrees without loops. The first genotype algorithm produces genotype lists for each individual, which are identical to those obtained from the Lange-Goradia algorithm, but exploits the half-sib structure of some populations and reduces CPU time. The second genotype elimination algorithm deletes more inconsistent genotypes in pedigrees with loops and detects more illegal, incomplete descent graphs in such pedigrees.