Sex identification by polymerase chain reaction of alpha-satellite in aged tissue samples.

In vitro amplification of the alphoid repeated sequences clustered in the centromeric regions of the human X and Y chromosomes was carried out. A modification of the amplification conditions reported by Witt and Erickson gave clear amplification bands from 10 pg of genomic DNA template. Results were obtained from the following aged tissue samples: 1 microL three-year-old blood stain, one-year-old single hair roots, six-month-old saliva stains and twelve-year-old bone fragments.

Sex determination and species exclusion in forensic samples with probe cY97.

A total of 120 human samples of blood, saliva and semen stains, hair roots, bone and skin fragments, obtained from 30 males and 16 females were analyzed in Southern blots with probe cY97. Only the male samples gave a specific band of 5.7 kb.