High-Resolution Melting (HRM) of Hypervariable Mitochondrial DNA Regions for Forensic Science

J Forensic Sci. 2018 Mar;63(2):536-540. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.13552. Epub 2017 Aug 23.

Abstract

Forensic strategies commonly are proceeding by analysis of short tandem repeats (STRs); however, new additional strategies have been proposed for forensic science. Thus, this article standardized the high-resolution melting (HRM) of DNA for forensic analyzes. For HRM, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from eight individuals were extracted from mucosa swabs by DNAzol reagent, samples were amplified by PCR and submitted to HRM analysis to identify differences in hypervariable (HV) regions I and II. To confirm HRM, all PCR products were DNA sequencing. The data suggest that is possible discriminate DNA from different samples by HRM curves. Also, uncommon dual-dissociation was identified in a single PCR product, increasing HRM analyzes by evaluation of melting peaks. Thus, HRM is accurate and useful to screening small differences in HVI and HVII regions from mtDNA and increase the efficiency of laboratory routines based on forensic genetics.

Keywords: DNA; forensic science; high-resolution melting; hypervariable regions; melting curve; mitochondrial.

MeSH terms

  • Complementarity Determining Regions / genetics*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Forensic Genetics / methods
  • Humans
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Temperature*

Substances

  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • DNA, Mitochondrial