Determination of mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci by using the combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microchip electrophoresis

In this work, a simple and convenient method for the detection of mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci has been developed by the combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microchip electrophoresis (MCE). Degraded or inhibitor DNA greatly limited STR loci analysis. Therefore, The proper primers was designed as close as possible to the STRs region to produce smaller size STRs, and made the assay suitable for the destroyed samples. Two annealing temperatures were applied in one PCR procedure and the corresponding cycle numbers were studied to improve the sensitivity of PCR reaction. Under optimal conditions, 0.001 ng DNA templates were enough to generate miniSTRs. The relative standard deviations (n=3) of the size fifteen miniSTRs from DNA9947A ranged from 0.49% to 4.41%. The RSDs of concentrations were between 0.94% and 4.95%. Fifteen miniSTRs were also well produced from human hair, indicating that the method has great potential application in criminal identification and paternity testing.