title: Comparing six commercial autosomal STR kits in a large Dutch population sample.
abstract: Regularly, STR results obtained with different PCR amplification kits are compared, for instance with old cases, when revisiting cold cases or when addressing cross-border crimes. It is known that differences in primer design for the same loci in different kits may give rise to null alleles or shifted alleles. In this study, the genotyping results of 2085 Dutch male samples were compared for six autosomal STR kits (Promega's PowerPlex(®) 16, ESX-16 and ESI-17 Systems, Qiagen's Investigator(®) ESSplex Kit and Applied Biosystems' AmpFlSTR(®) Identifiler and NGM PCR Amplification Kits). A total of 19 discordant autosomal genotyping results were obtained that were examined by sequence analysis using Roche-454 next generation sequencing and/or Sanger sequencing. A further 25 discordances were found and sequenced for the Amelogenin locus. The 24 samples showing the same primer binding site mutation at the Amelogenin locus were subjected to X-STR analysis in order to assess whether they could share a common origin, which appeared not to be the case. Based on the sequencing results, we set the final genotypes and determined the allele frequencies of 23 autosomal STRs for the Dutch reference database.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: t.westen@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Antoinette A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Westen
authors.affiliation: Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: t.kraaijenbrink@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Thirsa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kraaijenbrink
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands; Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: l.robles.de.medina@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Elizaveta A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Robles de Medina
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.harteveld@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harteveld
authors.affiliation: Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.willemse@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Willemse
authors.affiliation: Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: s.b.zuniga@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Sofia B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Zuniga
authors.affiliation: Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: k.j.van_der_gaag@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Kristiaan J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: van der Gaag
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: n.weiler@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Natalie E C
authors.initials: NEC
authors.lastname: Weiler
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.warnaar@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Warnaar
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Molecular Biology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.kayser@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kayser
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biological Traces, Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O. Box 24044, 2490 AA The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: t.sijen@nfi.minvenj.nl.
authors.forename: Titia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sijen
authors.affiliation: Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Centre, Postzone S-05-P, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.de_knijff@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Knijff
mesh_terms: D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009426:Netherlands; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
keywords: (Next generation) sequencing; Allele frequencies; Concordancy testing; Forensic science; Null alleles; Short tandem repeat (STR)