Patent ID: 8032307

Claim:
A method of establishing the genotype at each of a plurality of genetic loci, the genotype at each genetic locus being one of two possible identities, such that the genotype is heterozygous with respect to that identity or homozygous with respect to that identity, the method including: analysing a plurality of replicates of each of a plurality of calibration samples to provide an indication of the genotype at each of the genetic loci for each replicate of each calibration sample, the indication of the genotype being a level of one or more distinctive components, the indication being a ratio of a measure of the presence of the first possible identity relative to a measure of the second possible identity for a given genetic locus, the indication for a sample at a given genetic locus defining which one of three indication types the sample has at that given genetic locus; generating from the calibration samples an average indication for each of the three indication types from the indications in each of those indication types; providing an indication range relative to the average indication for each of the three indication types for each of the genetic loci; analysing a plurality of replicates of an unknown source sample to provide a indication of the genotype at each of the genetic loci for which an indication range is provided, the indication being a ratio of a measure of the presence of the first possible identity relative to a measure of the second possible identity for that given genetic locus; generating an average indication from each of the indications for the replicates of that unknown source sample for each of the genetic loci; comparing the average indication for the unknown source sample at a genetic locus with the indication ranges provided for that genetic locus, the analysis of the unknown source sample being accepted if the indication is within an indication range, an accepted analysis defining which one of three indication types the sample has at that given genetic locus and/or the analysis of the unknown source sample being rejected if the indication is outside the indication range, the genotype for a genetic locus being derivable from the average indication according to the indication range the indication for that genetic locus falls within.