Forensic mass screening using mtDNA

Int J Legal Med. 2006 Nov;120(6):372-6. doi: 10.1007/s00414-006-0085-y. Epub 2006 Apr 1.

Abstract

At the forensic autopsy of a sexual murder victim, some trace hairs, possibly belonging to the perpetrator, were saved. Initially, the analysis of a pubic hair shaft only revealed the presence of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA haplotype profile consisting of the (CA)(6) allele and the complete hypervariable region 1 (HV1) and 2 (HV2) sequence. Later, typing of some further telogene trace hairs, which had been stored for several years, yielded a nuclear short tandem repeat (STR) profile. We used both the mtDNA haplotype and the STR profile to start a DNA mass screening project involving 2,335 male citizens of the relevant communities. MtDNA screening was carried out by using the CA repeat amplification in combination with an SNP typing procedure based on the restriction site analysis of amplified d-loop sequences. The aim of our paper is to put mass screening with mtDNA up for discussion.

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Child
  • Complementarity Determining Regions / genetics
  • DNA Fingerprinting*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Female
  • Genetic Testing*
  • Hair
  • Haplotypes
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Rape*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Tandem Repeat Sequences

Substances

  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • DNA, Mitochondrial