NCJ Number
228345
Journal
Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2009 Pages: 261-264
Date Published
September 2009
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the testing of a minisequencing design that consists of 71 mtSNPs (in 3 multiplexes) that are diagnostic of known branches of the R0 phylogeny, in real forensic samples that included degraded bones and teeth, hair shafts, and serial dilutions.
Abstract
The testing successfully minisequenced 71 SNPs that spanned the mtDNA molecule in highly degraded, low-amount DNA and serial dilution samples; however. below 25 pg/ml of template, the efficiency of the minisequencing assays used was moderately reduced. These mtSNPs increase significantly the discrimination power of the mtDNA test in samples of European ancestry. In addition to being more cost-effective than many other alternative techniques (e.g., RFLP genotyping), minisequencing is apparently reliable when genotyping suboptimum samples. No suspicious SNP patterns were observed that could indicate artificial sample mix-up or involuntary amplification of nuclear mtDNA pseudogenes (NUMTs). The descriptions of materials and methods address the features of forensic samples and serial DNA dilution samples, SNP selection and SNaPshot design, automatic sequencing, and control for genotyping errors. 1 table, 1 figure, and 22 references