Typing of 49 autosomal SNPs by single base extension and capillary electrophoresis for forensic genetic testing

Sequenced-based French population data from 169 unrelated individuals with Verogen's ForenSeq DNA signature prep kit

Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS) applied to forensic genetics allows the simultaneous analysis of hundreds of genetic markers and the access to full amplicon sequences which help to increase available allele diversity. Meanwhile, sequence variation within the repeat regions represents the majority of the allele diversity, flanking regions adjacent to the repeat core provide an additional degree of variation. The forensic genetics community needs access to population data, from relevant parts of the world that contain this new sequence diversity in order to perform statistical calculations. In this study, we report sequence-based Short Tandem Repeat (STR) and identity Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (iSNPs) allele data for 169 French individuals across 58 STRs and 92 SNPs included in the Verogen ForenSeq DNA Signature Prep kit. 42 STRs out of 58 showed an increased number of alleles due to sequence variation in the repeat motif and/or the flanking regions. D9S1122 showed the largest overall gain with an increase of observed heterozygosities of almost 25 %. The combined match probability combining 27 autosomal STRs and 91 identity SNPs was 1.11E-69. Sequence-based allele frequencies included in this publication will help forensic laboratories to increase the power of discrimination for identification, kinship analysis and mixture interpretation.

Advances in ligase chain reaction and ligation-based amplifications for genotyping assays: Detection and applications

Genetic variants have been reported to cause several genetic diseases. Various genotyping assays have been developed for diagnostic and screening purposes but with certain limitations in sensitivity, specificity, cost effectiveness and/or time savings. Since the discovery of ligase chain reaction (LCR) in the late nineties, it became one of the most favored platforms for detecting these variants and also for genotyping low abundant contaminants. Recent and powerful modifications with the integration of various detection strategies such as electrochemical and magnetic biosensors, nanoparticles (NPs), quantum dots, quartz crystal and leaky surface acoustic surface biosensors, DNAzyme, rolling circle amplification (RCA), strand displacement amplification (SDA), surface enhanced raman scattering (SERS), chemiluminescence and fluorescence resonance energy transfer have been introduced to both LCR and ligation based amplifications to enable high-throughput and inexpensive multiplex genotyping with improved robustness, simplicity, sensitivity and specificity. In this article, classical and up to date modifications in LCR and ligation based amplifications are critically evaluated and compared with emphasis on points of strength and weakness, sensitivity, cost, running time, equipment needed, applications and multiplexing potential. Versatile genotyping applications such as genetic diseases detection, bacterial and viral pathogens detection are also detailed. Ligation based gold NPs biosensor, ligation based RCA and ligation mediated SDA assays enhanced detection limit tremendously with a discrimination power approaching 1.5aM, 2aM and 0.1fM respectively. MLPA (multiplexed ligation dependent probe amplification) and SNPlex assays have been commercialized for multiplex detection of at least 48 SNPs at a time. MOL-PCR (multiplex oligonucleotide ligation) has high-throughput capability with multiplex detection of 50 SNPs/well in a 96 well plate. Ligase detection reaction (LDR) is one of the most widely used LCR versions that have been successfully integrated with several detection strategies with improved sensitivity down to 0.4fM.

Evaluation of the iPLEX® Sample ID Plus Panel designed for the Sequenom MassARRAY® system. A SNP typing assay developed for human identification and sample tracking based on the SNPforID panel

Sequenom launched the first commercial SNP typing kit for human identification, named the iPLEX(®) Sample ID Plus Panel. The kit amplifies 47 of the 52 SNPs in the SNPforID panel, amelogenin and two Y-chromosome SNPs in one multiplex PCR. The SNPs were analyzed by single base extension (SBE) and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). In this study, we evaluated the accuracy and sensitivity of the iPLEX(®) Sample ID Plus Panel by comparing the typing results of the iPLEX(®) Sample ID Plus Panel with those obtained with our ISO 17025 accredited SNPforID assay. The average call rate for duplicate typing of any one SNPs in the panel was 90.0% when the mass spectra were analyzed automatically with the MassARRAY(®) TYPER 4.0 genotyping software in real time. Two reproducible inconsistencies were observed (error rate: 0.05%) at two different SNP loci. In addition, four inconsistencies were observed once. The optimal amount of template DNA in the PCR was ≥10ng. There was a relatively high risk of allele and locus drop-outs when ≤1ng template DNA was used. We developed an R script with a stringent set of "forensic analysis parameters" based on the peak height and the signal to noise data exported from the TYPER 4.0 software. With the forensic analysis parameters, all inconsistencies were eliminated in reactions with ≥10ng DNA. However, the average call rate decreased to 69.9%. The iPLEX(®) Sample ID Plus Panel was tested on 10 degraded samples from forensic case-work. Two samples could not be typed, presumably because the samples contained PCR and SBE inhibitors. The average call rate was generally lower for degraded DNA samples and the number of inconsistencies higher than for pristine DNA. However, none of the inconsistencies were reproduced and the highest match probability for the degraded samples typed with the panel was 1.7E-9 using the stringent forensic analysis parameters. Although the relatively low sensitivity of the iPLEX(®) Sample ID Plus Panel makes it inappropriate for typing of trace samples from crime scenes, the panel may be interesting for relationship testing and for identification of e.g. samples in biobanks because of the low reagent costs, the limited hands-on time of the iPLEX(®) assay and the automatic analysis of the mass spectra.