title: Current status of the use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in forensic practices.
abstract: Forensic geneticists often use short tandem repeats (STRs) to solve cases. However, STRs can be insufficient when DNA samples are degraded due to environmental exposure and mass disasters, alleged and real relatives are genetically related in paternity or kinship analyses, or a suspect is lacking. In such cases, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can provide valuable information and thus should be seriously considered as a tool to help resolve challenging cases. In this review, the current status of SNP analyses in forensic applications and the comparative advantages and disadvantages of SNPs with other biomarkers are discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1 Council of Forensic Medicine , Ministry of Justice, Istanbul, Turkey .
authors.forename: Kemal Murat
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Canturk
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Emre
authors.forename: Kubilay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kınoglu
authors.forename: Bünyamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Başpınar
authors.forename: Feyzi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozen
mesh_terms: D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics; D005190:Family; D053803:Forensic Genetics; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide