Preliminary analysis of polymorphism of STR markers in the population of domestic cats (Felis catus) in Lower Silesia.

AIM OF THE STUDY: Genetic tests play a crucial role in the crime investigation process and often provide the strongest evidence for case resolution. Although the majority of genetic analyses in the field of criminalistics focus on the human DNA, genetic identification of animals is becoming an increasingly common procedure. Domestic animals, which live around people, may be silent witnesses and even victims of criminal activity. Their typically limited value as evidence in such cases could radically change thanks to the possibility of using animal biological material present at the crime scene. In addition to forensic medicine, genetic identification methods of this type may also become a valuable tool in many other areas of life. Recently, there has been an increase in public interest in verifying the pedigree of animals, investigating poaching and illegal shooting of animals, e.g. protected wildcats and lynx, as well as illegal trade in animals. The main aims of the studies reported in this paper were to assess the degree of polymorphism of the analyzed STR markers in feline genetic material, and to perform a preliminary evaluation of their suitability for developing an original feline genetic identification test. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The studies involved an analysis of genetic material samples obtained from a population consisting of 123 unrelated cats representing various domestic cat breeds, living in the Lower Silesia region. The material collected from individual cats in the form of blood drops or buccal swabs was subjected to an analysis of five STR markers forming a single multiplex assay (FCA742, FCA744, F124, FCA732, FCA749). RESULTS: The results obtained for each marker separately were analyzed statistically and, using the 2 test, the concordance of the study population with the Hardy-Weinberg principle was evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate a significant potential of the analyzed markers for the development of genetic identification tests.

Paternity testing at the Department of Forensic Medicine of Wroclaw Medical University (Poland).

Evidentiary materials in court cases comprise the testimony of all relevant parties and witnesses, physical and biological evidence, and the stage of child's development at the moment of birth. In this study, an analysis was made of results obtained between 1966 and 2014 from paternity testing capable of providing biological evidence for court cases. During this time, 16,508 opinions were released, with exclusion of paternity in 4182 cases. The analysis of the total percentage of exclusions in individual years over the entire period of 49years turned out to be very interesting. Initially, there was a high percentage of exclusions, which most likely resulted from women wrongfully accusing men; however, this figure stabilised in the twenty-first century at less than 20%.

[Efficiency of three commercial kits dedicated to DNA and RNA isolation from various clinical and forensic materials using the Janus automated workstation]. / Wydajnosc trzech komercyjnych zestawów do izolacji DNA i RNA ze zróznicowanego materialu klinicznego i dowodowego, przy uzyciu automatycznej stacji Janus.

Isolation of genetic material is a crucial stage in molecular biology. Increasing needs for DNA analysis cause continuous improving of genetic material isolation methods toward higher accuracy and output. Automatization in molecular biology is widely seen, especially in clinical and forensic medicine. The objective of this research was optimization of methods for automatic nucleic acid isolation using the Janus automated workstation, Perkin Elmer. The efficiency and purity of isolated DNA was satisfactory. Despite numerous attempts at achieving automatic RNA isolation, we did not succeed in obtaining RNA working in other applications, such as RT-PCR or Real-Time PCR.

[STR loci D2S1338 and D19S433 in a population sample from the Lower Silesia region]. / Loci STR D2S1338 i D19S433 w próbce populacyjnej z terenu dolnego Slaska.

Over the past decade, the human identity testing community has established a set of core short tandem repeat (STR) loci that are widely used for DNA typing applications [1]. The present paper analyzed the usefulness of STR D2S1338 and D19S433 loci in paternity testing and human identity establishment. The population study was performed on 1500 individuals, inhabitants of the Lower Silesia region. The DNA samples were amplified simultaneously at 15 STR loci using a multiplex kit AmpFISTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit. The amplified products were separated by capillary electrophoresis using an ABI Prism 310 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems) with the separation medium POP4 according to the manufacturer's recommended protocols. Loci D2S1338 and D19S433 are highly polymorphic [2]. There were no detectable differences from Hardy-Weinberg expectations (HWE) in both the tested loci. The distribution of the observed allele is shown in Figures 1 and 2. The observed and expected homozygotes, the exact test for departures from HWE, probability of discrimination (PD), power of exclusion (PE), matching probability (MP), polymorphism information content (PIC), typical paternity index (TPI) and probability of paternity (PP) were also calculated and presented.