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Technical note: developmental validation of a novel 6-dye typing system with 36 Y-STR loci

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Abstract

Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) have proven to be very useful in investigating sexual assault cases and in paternity lineage differentiation. However, currently available commercial Y-STR multiplex amplification systems bear the limitations in the identification of related males from the same paternal lineage due to there being an insufficient number of loci in any single amplification kit. The aim of this study was to establish and validate a novel 6-dye, 36-plex Y-STR multiplex amplification system that incorporated all of the loci present in the Yfiler™ Plus kit (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYF387S1, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS449, DYS456, DYS458, DYS460, DYS481, DYS518, DYS533, DYS570, DYS576, DYS627, DYS635, Y_GATA_H4) as well as a further nine highly polymorphic Y-STR loci (DYS388, DYS444, DYS447, DYS522, DYS527a/b, DYS549, DYS596, DYS643). The novel system was optimized and validated by a series of studies that tested the effect of different PCR-based conditions as well as the species specificity, sensitivity, stability, stutter precision, suitability for use on DNA mixtures, reproducibility, and parallel testing of the system, as well as its performance on casework samples and population analysis, according to the SWGDAM developmental validation guidelines. A total of 246 haplotypes were found for the 36 Y-STRs among 247 Guangdong Han unrelated males. Collectively, the results demonstrate that the developed 36-plex Y-STR system is sensitive, robust, reliable, and highly informative for use in forensic genetics.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81501627), Innovative Training Program for College Students (grant no. 201612121083), and Open project of Key Laboratory of Forensic Genetics in Ministry of Public Security (2015FGKFKT03).

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  1. Weian Du and Peipei Feng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China

    Weian Du, Peipei Feng, Hongyan Huang, Weibin Wu, Chao Liu & Ling Chen

  2. AGCU ScienTech Incorporation, Wuxi, 214174, China

    Weian Du, Lei Zhang & Yulin Guo

  3. Guangdong Homy Genetics Incorporation, Foshan, 512000, China

    Weian Du

  4. Guangzhou Forensic Science Institute, Guangzhou, 510030, China

    Changhui Liu, Hong Liu & Chao Liu

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  1. Weian Du
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Du, W., Feng, P., Huang, H. et al. Technical note: developmental validation of a novel 6-dye typing system with 36 Y-STR loci. Int J Legal Med 133, 1015–1027 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-018-1864-y

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