ABSTRACT
The emergence of Massively Parallel Sequencing technologies enabled the analysis of full mitochondrial (mt)DNA sequences from forensically relevant samples that have, so far, only been typed in the control region or its hypervariable segments. In this study, we evaluated the performance of a commercially available multiplex-PCR-based assay, the Precision ID mtDNA Whole Genome Panel (Thermo Fisher Scientific), for the amplification and sequencing of the entire mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) from even degraded forensic specimens. For this purpose, more than 500 samples from 24 different populations were selected to cover the vast majority of established superhaplogroups. These are known to harbor different signature sequence motifs corresponding to their phylogenetic background that could have an effect on primer binding and, thus, could limit a broad application of this molecular genetic tool. The selected samples derived from various forensically relevant tissue sources and were DNA extracted using different methods. We evaluated sequence concordance and heteroplasmy detection and compared the findings to conventional Sanger sequencing as well as an orthogonal MPS platform. We discuss advantages and limitations of this approach with respect to forensic genetic workflow and analytical requirements.
Subject(s)
DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics , Genome, Mitochondrial , High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing , Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction , Forensic Genetics/methods , Haplotypes , Humans , Phylogeny , Sequence Analysis, DNAABSTRACT
A total of 444 individuals representing three ethnic groups (Albanians, Turks and Romanies) in the Republic of Macedonia were sequenced in the mitochondrial control region. The mtDNA haplogroup composition differed between the three groups. Our results showed relatively high frequencies of haplogroup H12 in Albanians (8.8%) and less in Turks (3.3%), while haplogroups M5a1 and H7a1a were dominant in Romanies (13.7% and 10.3%, respectively) but rare in the former two. This highlights the importance of regional sampling for forensic mtDNA databasing purposes. These population data will be available on EMPOP under accession numbers EMP00644 (Albanians), EMP00645 (Romanies) and EMP00646 (Turks).
Subject(s)
DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics , Ethnicity/genetics , Genetics, Population , Haplotypes , Humans , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Republic of North MacedoniaABSTRACT
The population data were obtained for the 16 Y chromosomal STR loci included in the AmpFistr(®)Yfiler™ PCR Amplification Kit (DYS456, DYS389I, DYS390, DYS389II, DYS458, DYS19, DYS385 a/b, DYS393, DYS391, DYS439, DYS635, DYS392, Y-GATA H4, DYS437, DYS438, DYS448) in a sample of 262 unrelated men from the Republic of Macedonia.
