Development of a massively parallel sequencing assay for investigating sequence polymorphisms of 15 short tandem repeats in a Chinese Northern Han population.

Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) has been used in forensic genetics in recent years owing to several advantages, e.g. MPS can provide precise descriptions of the repeat allele structure and variation in the repeat-flanking regions, increasing the discriminating power among loci and individuals.

A 472-SNP panel for pairwise kinship testing of second-degree relatives.

Kinship testing based on genetic markers, as forensic short tandem repeats (STRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has valuable practical applications. Paternity and first-degree relationship can be accurately identified by current commonly-used forensic STRs and reported SNP markers. However, second-degree and more distant relationships remain challenging.

Whole genome nucleosome sequencing identifies novel types of forensic markers in degraded DNA samples.

In the case of mass disasters, missing persons and forensic caseworks, highly degraded biological samples are often encountered. It can be a challenge to analyze and interpret the DNA profiles from these samples. Here we provide a new strategy to solve the problem by taking advantage of the intrinsic structural properties of DNA.

[Genetic variability and phylogenetic analysis of 39 short tandem repeat loci in Beijing Han population].

In this study, we studied the genetic polymorphisms of short tandem repeat (STR) loci from 13 CODIS and 26 non-CODIS system in Beijing Han population for the first time, and established a database of 39 STR loci whose forensic parameters were further evaluated. Our results demonstrated no significant deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of 39 STR loci and no pairwise linkage disequilibrium between them. The power of discriminations, expected heterozygosity, polymorphic information content, and power of exclusion of 39 STR loci ranged from 0.

[Molecular networks and mechanisms of epithelial-mesenchymal transition regulated by miRNAs in the malignant melanoma cell line].

Melanoma is a malignant cutaneous cancer of high metastasis and lethal rates. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in the embryonic developmental process that is often activated during tumorigenesis and metastasis. In this study, we integrated of mRNA and miRNA transcriptome sequencing data of melanocyte and melanoma cell lines to identify genes involved in the process of tumor EMT in the first place, and uncovered 11 miRNAs including miR-130a-3p, miR-130b-3p, miR-125a-5p, miR-30a-3p, miR-195-5p, miR-345-5p, miR-509-3-5p, miR-374a-5p, miR-509-5p, miR-148a-3p and miR-330-3p, negatively related with EMT genes using the Mirsystem software.

Genetic analysis of 17 Y-chromosomal STR loci of Chinese Tujia ethnic group residing in Youyang Region of Southern China.

Y-STR haplotype data were obtained in a population sample of 197 unrelated healthy male individuals of Chinese Tujia ethnic minority group residing in an autonomous county of Southern China using 17 Y-chromosome STR markers. A total of 197 haplotypes were identified in the set of Y-STR loci. The overall haplotype diversity for the Tujia population at 17 Y-STR loci was 1.

[Progress on epigenetics applications in forensic science].

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Such changes include DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodeling, genomic imprinting, X chromosome inactivation and non-coding RNA regulation. Recent progresses on epigenetics open new possibilities in tackling these challenging problems in forensic science, including identification of fetal paternity testing in embryonic period, determination of the necessary allele in paternity testing, discrimination of identical twins, origination analysis of micro tissue, verification of forged DNA.