Efficacy of reduced-size short tandem repeat PCR analysis for degraded DNA samples.

Background: Short tandem repeats (STR) typing is an essential analysis method for human identification in forensic field. When DNAs obtained from the field as evidences are severely degraded or in too small amounts, STR analysis often shows allele drop-out.

Objective: To improve STR analysis for degraded DNA or trace DNA, reduced-size STR (rSTR) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system was devised by selecting relatively large-size STR loci.

Population genetic study for 24 STR loci and Y indel (GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification kit and PowerPlex® Fusion system) in 1000 Korean individuals.

Allele frequencies for 23 autosomal short tandem repeat loci (D3S1358, vWA, D16S539, CSF1PO, TPOX, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, TH01, FGA, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D2S441, D19S433, D22S1045, D10S1248, D1S1656, D12S391, D2S1338, SE33, Penta D, Penta E), 1 Y-chromosome short tandem repeat locus (DYS391) and Y indel were obtained from 1000 unrelated individuals of the Korean population.

Polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor-α promoter region for susceptibility to HLA-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis in Korean population.

This study designed to assess the relationship between tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α promoter polymorphisms and disease susceptibility to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27-positive ankylosing spondylitis (AS). One hundred and nineteen HLA-B27(+) AS patients, 95 HLA-B27(+) healthy controls, and 135 random healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the TNF-α promoter at positions -1031T/C, -863C/A, -857C/T, -646G/A, -308G/A, and -238G/A were analyzed.