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I would suggest that the markers in the kits are okay for general use,
but the population genetics (allele frequencies) require local
validation. The clinical testing lab I worked in here in Utah is
centered in a homogeneous population with strong founder effect and we
validated the Promega kit and the ABI kits for our normal population.
Figures we calculated were not too far off from the kits. It is very
true that some of the markers in the kit are more or less polymorphic in
different populations, but no matter what population you are working
with, there should be enough markers to establish a very high paternity
index and/or high probability of matching. The number of markers in the
kits allow you to identify non-matches or exclusions effectively as
well. We once had a case where the two alleged fathers were brothers
and another where the alleged fathers were father and son, both resolved
fine with these kits. Paternity was established for one individual and
the exclusions were obvious.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alpha DNA [mailto:alphadna@alphadna.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 10:28 PM
To: Recipients of ABRF List
Subject: RE: forensics - those kits are not foolproof
Actually, one does not necessarily need a "standard", because it may not
exist. The commercially available kits are expensive, but what is more
important is that there is no "universal standard" because of the
peculiarities of the local populations. If Washington DC is populated
by 80% African Americans, DNA markers highly polymorphic for Caucasians
may not be so useful for identification purposes, if they are not
polymorphic for blacks (they may still be quite useful to test DNA on
the dresses of the White House interns). It is almost obligatory for
forensic labs to do some development on their own. Not long ago the
person running the DNA lab in the Montreal police department gave us a
talk how they test and use polymorphic markers for their identification
purposes. He was hired to run the lab after completing a Masters degree
in human evolution on DNA level. DNA testing should be tailored to the
local population, it is not foolproof to use kits with polymorphic
markers that are highly informative for the human population as a whole,
because they may be not so informative for the local folks. Here in
Quebec we have a very special situation, a population composed of 80%
French Canadians with a very strong founder effect (a handful of people
who came mostly from one region in France couple of hundreds of years
ago experienced a demographic expansion and contributed to a vast
segment of today's DNA pool of Quebec), therefore some "widely accepted"
or "standard" polymorphic markers are simply not informative because of
the homogeneity of the local population.
So, in many cases, university research on the genetic profile of the
local population can be quite useful, on top of this the forensic labs
should do some research on their own (that is what we were told they are
doing).
I hope I am not pulling your leg; human DNA evolution is away from my
primary interests.
Regards,
victor
www.alphadna.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities
[mailto:abrf-request@aecom.yu.edu] On Behalf Of Harry Bakken
Sent: May 15, 2001 1:26 PM
To: Recipients of ABRF List
Subject: RE: forensics
I was trying to stay out of this because my time is limited, but if you
need some help, let me know. I have quite a bit of human identity
experience, mainly in paternity testing. I also work as a consultant to
a company doing paternity and twin testing. There are several
(expensive) proprietary kits as were mentioned. Promega also has some.
The best place to start in giving advice on this is what are you trying
to accomplish. Different 'fingerprinting' applications require certain
markers and certain kits require certain equipment, etc. In Europe,
guidelines are different than in the States, ABI even has a separate kit
for Europe called 'SGM plus.' Send me some specifics, and I can send
some help your way.
Good Luck,
Harry Bakken
Technology Trust, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Lyons [mailto:boblyons@umich.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 6:51 AM
To: Recipients of ABRF List
Cc: Recipients of ABRF List
Subject: Re: forensics
> rmaroun wrote:
>
> hello,
>
> could any one help me finding protocoles for DNA fingerprinting used
in forensic biotechnology (paternity and criminal cases),
> especially the sequences of DNA primers used in the PCR step.
Since no one else has answered, I'll take a stab based on my limited
knowlege. I believe most forensic work is performed using kits from
ABI called 'Profiler' and 'Cofiler'. The primer sequences are proprie-
tary.
Bob Lyons
University of Michigan
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