gerelated

Gerelated is a term used in genetics and data science to denote observations, relationships, or attributes that arise from genetic relatedness between individuals or samples. As an adjective, it describes entities that are not independent because of shared ancestry, such as data from relatives in family-based studies or samples drawn from related populations. The concept is used to frame analyses where relatedness must be accounted for to avoid biased inferences, including heritability estimation, family-based association tests, and population-genetics simulations. Quantifying gerelatedness typically involves kinship coefficients, identity-by-descent measures, and other genetic similarity metrics computed between pairs of individuals.

The term is relatively new and not uniformly standardized. It appears mainly in informal discourse, conference proceedings, and some preprints; in formal literature, researchers more commonly use relatedness, kinship, or familial linkage. Etymologically, gerelated blends "gene" or "genetic" with "related," signaling its intended meaning, though interpretations can vary by discipline. Some scholars prefer explicit phrases such as genetically related or relatedness to avoid ambiguity. Limitations include definitional variability and potential overlap with established terms, which can hinder cross-study comparisons. When used, authors should provide a clear definition and, if possible, quantitative measures of gerelatedness to ensure reproducibility.