title: Validation of the Applied Biosystems Prism 377 automated sequencer for the forensic short tandem repeat analysis.
abstract: The Applied Biosystems (ABI) Prism 377 DNA sequencer has been evaluated in an attempt to increase the throughput of samples for short tandem repeat (STR) analysis, in both forensic casework and the UK National Criminal Intelligence DNA Database. The gel system assessed consisted of 0.2 mm, 4% acrylamide 6 M urea gels, with a well-to-read distance of 36 cm. Gels were run at a constant voltage of 3 kV and constant temperature of 51 degrees C. The run time of our second generation multiplex (SGM) STR system was achieved in less than 2 h. Rigorous validation has been performed on the instrument hardware and software. Complete resolution of 1 base differences was obtained, up to and beyond 350 bases; sizing precision across gels was more than 2-fold higher than the 373A and the sensitivity was increased by one third.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Service, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Frazier
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Millican
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Oldroyd
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Sparkles
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panchal
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bark
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Kimpton
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D001322:Autoanalysis; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D004247:DNA