Information about relatedness among segments of DNA sequences is useful in many applications including fine mapping genetic variants contributing to inherited traits. Since true relatedness among sequences is unknown, I describe how we may estimate the relatedness. I propose a way to use the relatedness to fine-map causal genetic variants for an inherited trait. The resulting approaches are among those considered in the companion presentation on “A comparison of association methods for fine-mapping rare variants in case-control studies".

Keywords: Relatedness, DNA sequences, genetic mapping.