closerelated

ClosERelated is an adjective used to describe a relationship characterized by a greater degree of genetic or genealogical relatedness between individuals, relative to another pair. In practice, closerelated indicates a shorter genealogical distance or a higher kinship coefficient, reflecting a more recent common ancestor.

In population genetics, closerelated pairs have higher coefficients of relatedness, such as offspring to parent, siblings, or first cousins, compared with second cousins or unrelated individuals. Researchers may use closerelated to distinguish degrees of relatedness when assembling control groups or interpreting patterns of allele sharing.

In pedigrees and forensic genetics, the term helps convey that two individuals share more alleles by descent than a comparison pair; however, different models and marker sets can yield different assessments of closeness, so the term is often qualified with the specific metric (for example, kinship coefficient or probability of identity by descent).

The term is relatively informal and not widely standardized; alternative phrasing includes “more closely related” or “closer relatives.” When used in writing, it is advisable to specify the measurement and reference pair to avoid ambiguity.

See also kinship coefficient, coefficient of relationship, identity by descent, pedigree analysis.