Finding relatives in a database
Determining relative relationships of people who share a common ancestor within at least a threshold number of generations includes: receiving recombinable deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and recombinable DNA sequence information of a plurality of users; processing, using one or more computer processors, the recombinable DNA sequence information of the plurality of users in parallel; determining, based at least in part on a result of processing the recombinable DNA information of the plurality of users in parallel, a predicted degree of relationship between the first user and a user among the plurality of users, the predicted degree of relative relationship corresponding to a number of generations within which the first user and the second user share a common ancestor.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining, by a computing system, identical-by-descent (IBD) segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of a first user and a second user based on common patterns of nucleotides between the first user and the second user, wherein a relative finder database comprises DNA sequence information of a plurality of users, including that of the first user and the second user;
determining, by the computing system and from the IBD segments, an amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user;
estimating, by the computing system, a degree of a relative relationship between the first user and the second user based on empirical distribution patterns of DNA shared by relatives of various degrees within a population; and
providing, by the computing system and for display on a client device of the first user or the second user, a representation of a graphical user interface indicating the degree of the relative relationship between the first user and the second user.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to determining IBD segments of DNA of the first user and the second user, receiving, from the first user and the second user, opt-in elections to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among a plurality of users in the relative finder database.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the DNA is recombinable DNA.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the common patterns of nucleotides between the first user and the second user are lengths of DNA of the first user and the DNA of the second user exceeding a predetermined threshold.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the common patterns of nucleotides between the first user and the second user are bounded by consecutive opposite-homozygous calls at single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the first user and the second user, and wherein the IBD segments are defined based on distances between the consecutive opposite-homozygous calls.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user comprises a sum of lengths of the IBD segments.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user comprises a percentage of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the degree of the relative relationship between the first user and the second user comprises estimating the degree of the relative relationship in proportion to the amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying the population from a plurality of populations based on the amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the DNA shared by the first user and the second user comprises both autosomal DNA and X chromosome DNA of the first user and the second user.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the relative relationship between the first user and the second user is also based on analyses of mutations within the IBD segments.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the relative relationship between the first user and the second user is also based on family tree or birth records of the first user and the second user.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the IBD segments comprises:
determining homozygous alleges in the DNA of the first user;
representing, for the homozygous alleges, relative zygosity states between the first user and other users of the plurality of users in respective bitwise arrays; and
performing a bitwise operation on the respective bitwise arrays to identify the IBD segments.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein lengths of the respective bitwise arrays match a word length of a processor in the computing system that performs the bitwise operation.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the bitwise operation is a bitwise OR operation.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the DNA of the first user includes a region that exhibits a gene indicative of a disease;
determining that at least one of the IBD segments is in the region; and
notifying the second user that they are at risk for the disease.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the degree of the relative relationship between the first user and the second user is based on a number of the IBD segments and the amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
determining identical-by-descent (IBD) segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of a first user and a second user based on common patterns of nucleotides between the first user and the second user, wherein a relative finder database comprises DNA sequence information of a plurality of users, including that of the first user and the second user;
determining, from the IBD segments, an amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user;
estimating a degree of a relative relationship between the first user and the second user based on empirical distribution patterns of DNA shared by relatives of various degrees within a population; and
providing, for display on a client device of the first user or the second user, a representation of a graphical user interface indicating the degree of the relative relationship between the first user and the second user.
19. A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory containing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
determining identical-by-descent (IBD) segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of a first user and a second user based on common patterns of nucleotides between the first user and the second user, wherein a relative finder database comprises DNA sequence information of a plurality of users, including that of the first user and the second user;
determining, from the IBD segments, an amount of the DNA shared by the first user and the second user;
estimating a degree of a relative relationship between the first user and the second user based on empirical distribution patterns of DNA shared by relatives of various degrees within a population; and
providing, for display on a client device of the first user or the second user, a representation of a graphical user interface indicating the degree of the relative relationship between the first user and the second user.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein determining the IBD segments comprises:
determining homozygous alleges in the DNA of the first user;
representing, for the homozygous alleges, relative zygosity states between the first user and other users of the plurality of users in respective bitwise arrays; and
performing a bitwise operation on the respective bitwise arrays to identify the IBD segments.