Mendelian error

{{Short description|Error in the mendelian inheritance}}

{{Refimprove|date=July 2008}}

A Mendelian error in the genetic analysis of a species, describes an allele in an individual which could not have been received from either of its biological parents by Mendelian inheritance. Inheritance is defined by a set of related individuals who have the same or similar phenotypes for a locus of a particular gene. A Mendelian error means that the very structure of the inheritance as defined by analysis of the parental genes is incorrect: one parent of one individual

is not actually the parent indicated; therefore the assumption is that the parental information is incorrect.

{{cite web

|url=http://www.inra.fr/mia/T/degivry/Schiex05a.pdf

|title=Mendelian error detection in complex pedigree using weighted constraint satisfaction techniques

|publisher=209.85.165.104

|accessdate=2015-08-13

|last=

|first=

}}

Possible explanations for Mendelian errors are genotyping errors, erroneous assignment of the individuals as relatives, or de novo mutations. Mendelian error is established by demonstrating the existence of a trait which is inconsistent with every possible combination of genotype compatible with the individual. This method of determination requires pedigree checking, however, and establishing a contradiction between phenotype and pedigree is an NP-complete problem. Genetic inconsistencies which do not correspond to this definition are Non-Mendelian Errors.

Statistical genetics analysis is used to detect these errors and to detect the possibility of the individual being linked to a specific disease linked to a single gene. Examples of such diseases in humans caused by single genes are Huntington's disease or Marfan syndrome.

{{cite web

|url=http://bioinf.wehi.edu.au/folders/melanie/statgenhowto.html

|title=Statistical Genetics Analysis

|publisher=bioinf.wehi.edu.au

|accessdate=2008-07-13

|last=

|first=

}}