Finding relatives in a database

1. A method of operating a relative finder database with hundreds of thousands of genetic markers to display a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database, comprising:

retrieving autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and a plurality of users in the relative finder database, wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information comprises hundreds of thousands of genetic markers;

receiving an opt-in election from the first user provided through a user interface to consent to be presented with a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

processing in parallel, responsive to the opt-in election and using one or more computer processors, the hundreds of thousands of genetic markers of the first user and the plurality of users to estimate one or more identical-by-descent (IBD) segments between the first user and the plurality of users, wherein the processing in parallel comprises processing data of two or more users or two or more genetic markers in parallel;

estimating, using one or more computer processors, a number of such shared IBD segments and a length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users based on the one or more IBD segments;

applying, using one or more computer processors, a relationship estimate model to the number of such shared IBD segments and the length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users to estimate a degree of relative relationship between the first user and one or more users among the plurality of users of the database who share a common ancestor within a threshold number of generations, wherein the one or more users among the plurality of users in the database were previously unknown to the first user; and

presenting, responsive to a request from the first user received through a user interface, to the first user an interactive graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the interactive GUI comprises a graphical display structure displaying the first user, the one or more users who may be potential relatives, and information pertaining to each of the one or more users including the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing in parallel comprises looking up a genetic marker of the first user in one or more hash tables constructed using the genetic marker of the plurality of users, thereby estimating that the genetic marker of the first user matches the genetic marker of a second user, the second user being a user in the plurality of users.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: estimating an IBD segment including the genetic marker shared between the first user and the second user.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said genetic marker is encoded as a part of a word comprising a plurality of genetic markers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing in parallel comprises:

making consecutive opposite homozygous calls by comparing the two or more genetic markers between the first user and the plurality of users and determining whether each genetic marker comprises an opposite homozygous call between the first user and each user of the plurality of users; and

encoding the opposite homozygous call data in an array comprising two or more rows corresponding to the two or more users and two or more columns corresponding to the two or more genetic markers.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising: performing a bitwise operation on the array to estimate an IBD segment.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the two or more users comprise at least 64 users.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the relationship estimate model comprises relationship distributions for combinations of various numbers of such shared IBD segments and various lengths of such shared IBD segments, the relationship distributions being obtained from a plurality of pedigrees.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein application of the relationship estimate model provides an estimated relative relationship based on a 50 th percentile relationship pattern, and an estimated range of relative relationship based on a 95 th percentile relationship pattern and a 5 th percentile relationship pattern.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of pedigrees comprises computer simulated individuals whose genomes are obtained by mating, by computer simulation, genomes of actual individuals.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the genetic markers comprise 650,000 genetic markers.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the genetic markers comprise 650,000 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the genetic markers comprise Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information pertaining to each of the one or more users comprises:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public;

the number of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users;

the length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users or the length represented as a percentage; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising: estimating with the relationship estimate model a range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the one or more users among the plurality of users in the database; and the graphical display structure further comprising: the range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the one or more users among the plurality of users in the database.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical display structure comprises a list of the one or more users sorted in descending order with a closest estimated relative positioned at the top of the list.

17. The method of claim 16 , the graphical display structure further comprising: a family tree representation of the multiple users based on the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the multiple users.

18. The method of claim 1 , the relationship estimate model further comprising: a feature corresponding to genetic ethnicity or self-reported ethnicity.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information includes genotype data, the relationship estimate model further comprising: a feature accounting for genotyping errors.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein each IBD segment exceeds a predetermined genetic distance threshold.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined genetic distance threshold is 10 centimorgans (10 cM).

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more computer processors are configured to estimate the one or more IBD segments by assessing a genetic distance between consecutive opposite homozygous calls made regarding the first user and the plurality of users in the database.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the genetic distance between the consecutive opposite homozygous calls is estimating by:

estimating a physical distance between the consecutive opposite homozygous calls;

manipulating the physical distance between consecutive opposite homozygous calls to account for recombination; and

estimating the genetic distance between opposite homozygous calls based on the manipulated physical distances between the opposite homozygous calls.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising: encoding the opposite homozygous calls between the first user and the plurality of users in the database in an array comprising a plurality of rows corresponding to the plurality of users in the database and a plurality of columns corresponding to a plurality of calls.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information includes entire genome sequence data.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the length of such shared IBD segments includes a total length of the such shared IBD segments.

27. A computer system comprising one or more processors and system memory, the one or more processors being configured to:

retrieve autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and a plurality of users in a relative finder database, wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information comprises hundreds of thousands of genetic markers;

receive an opt-in election from the first user provided through a user interface to consent to be presented with a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

process in parallel, responsive to the opt-in election and using one or more computer processors, the hundreds of thousands of genetic markers of the first user and the plurality of users to estimate one or more identical-by-descent (IBD) segments between the first user and the plurality of users, wherein the processing in parallel comprises processing data of two or more users or two or more genetic markers in parallel;

estimate a number of such shared IBD segments and a length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users based on the one or more such shared IBD segments, wherein the length of the such shared IBD segments is estimated as a genetic distance;

apply a relationship estimate model to the number of such shared IBD segments and the length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users to estimate a degree of relative relationship between the first user and one or more users among the plurality of users of the relative finder database who share a common ancestor within a threshold number of generations, wherein the one or more users among the plurality of users in the relative finder database were previously unknown to the first user; and

present, responsive to a request from the first user received through a user interface, to the first user an interactive graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the interactive GUI comprises a graphical display structure displaying the first user, the one or more users who may be potential relatives, and information pertaining to each of the one or more users including the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the information pertaining to each of the one or more users comprises:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public;

the number of such shared IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users;

the length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users or the length represented as a percentage; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

29. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations for operating a relative finder database with hundreds of thousands of genetic markers to display a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database, said program code comprising code for:

retrieving autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and a plurality of users in the relative finder database, wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information comprises hundreds of thousands of genetic markers;

receiving an opt-in election from the first user provided through a user interface to consent to be presented with a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

processing in parallel, responsive to the opt-in election and using one or more computer processors, the hundreds of thousands of genetic markers of the first user and the plurality of users to estimate one or more identical-by-descent (IBD) segments between the first user and the plurality of users, wherein the processing in parallel comprises processing data of two or more users or two or more genetic markers in parallel;

estimating a number of such shared IBD segments and a length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users based on the one or more IBD segments;

applying a relationship estimate model to the number of such shared IBD segments and the length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users to estimate a degree of relative relationship between the first user and one or more users among the plurality of users of the database who share a common ancestor within a threshold number of generations, wherein the one or more users among the plurality of users in the database were previously unknown to the first user; and

presenting, responsive to a request from the first user received through a user interface, to the first user an interactive graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the interactive GUI comprises a graphical display structure displaying the first user, the one or more users who may be potential relatives, and information pertaining to each of the one or more users including the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

30. A method of operating a relative finder database with hundreds of thousands of genetic markers to display a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database, comprising:

retrieving autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and a plurality of users in the relative finder database, wherein the autosomal DNA sequence information comprises hundreds of thousands of genetic markers;

receiving an opt-in election from the first user provided through a user interface to consent to be presented with a list of potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

processing in parallel, responsive to the opt-in election and using one or more computer processors, the hundreds of thousands of genetic markers of the first user and the plurality of users to estimate one or more identical-by-descent (IBD) segments between the first user and the plurality of users, wherein the processing in parallel comprises processing data of two or more users or two or more genetic markers in parallel,

wherein the processing in parallel comprises:

making consecutive opposite homozygous calls by comparing the two or more genetic markers between the first user and the plurality of users and determining whether each genetic marker comprises an opposite homozygous call between the first user and each user of the plurality of users, and

encoding the opposite homozygous call data in an array comprising two or more rows corresponding to the two or more users and two or more columns corresponding to the two or more genetic markers;

estimating, using one or more computer processors, a number of such shared IBD segments and a length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users based on the one or more IBD segments;

applying, using one or more computer processors, a relationship estimate model to the number of such shared IBD segments and the length of such shared IBD segments between the first user and the plurality of users to estimate a degree of relative relationship between the first user and one or more users among the plurality of users of the database who share a common ancestor within a threshold number of generations, wherein the one or more users among the plurality of users in the database were previously unknown to the first user; and

presenting, responsive to a request from the first user received through a user interface, to the first user an interactive graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the interactive GUI comprises a graphical display structure displaying the first user, the one or more users who may be potential relatives, and information pertaining to each of the one or more users including the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.