title: Mobile element-based forensic genomics.
abstract: Mobile elements are commonly referred to as selfish repetitive DNA sequences. However, mobile elements represent a unique and underutilized group of molecular markers. Several of their characteristics make them ideally suited for use as tools in forensic genomic applications. These include their nature as essentially homoplasy-free characters, they are identical by descent, the ancestral state of any insertion is known to be the absence of the element, and many mobile element insertions are lineage specific. In this review, we provide an overview of mobile element biology and describe the application of certain mobile elements, especially the SINEs and other retrotransposons, to forensic genomics. These tools include quantitative species-specific DNA detection, analysis of complex biomaterials, and the inference of geographic origin of human DNA samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Computation and Visualization Center, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: Jerilyn A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Batzer
mesh_terms: D020087:Alu Elements; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D008460:Meat; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018626:Retroelements; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D020086:Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D018626:Retroelements; D004247:DNA