Forensic analysis of mitochondrial and autosomal markers using Pyrosequencing®

Abstract

Forensic casework analyses often face challenges, such as limited genetic material with or without fragmentation and damage. To compensate for low amounts and degradation, shorter amplicons are often applied in the analysis. Also, a change of markers might be necessary using mitochondrial instead of autosomal markers. In addition, forensic research often involves analysis of large number of samples for marker evaluation and population-database compilation. Therefore, a flexible, robust but also rapid method for the detection of variation is highly useful. Pyrosequencing ® is a rapid, reliable, easy-to-use method for sequence analysis. The method is well suited for rapid forensic analysis of a few targets or analysis of a single target in many samples. It allows sequencing of very short amplicons, which facilitates analysis of degraded DNA. Here we present the use of Pyrosequencing, a robust method for sensitive forensic analysis of mitochondrial DNA, autosomal STRs, and Y-chromosome STRs and SNPs.