[Individual identification from extremely contaminated forensic specimens by sequencing cloned mitochondrial D-loop genes].

The PCR-amplified fragments of the human mitochondrial DNA were cloned, and independent clones were sequenced to identify individuals from trace amount of a composite forensic specimen originated from plural number of the individuals. The amplification of the mitochondrial DNA is suitable for forensic analysis where the specimens are highly degraded in most cases for its extremely high copy number and polymorphism as compared with the chromosomal DNA. And cloning procedure simplifies to correspond results to each individuals. Except three non-related individuals out of 34 cases analysed so far who gave identical sequence, the sequence in this segment were highly specific to each individuals and this procedure was extremely beneficial in individual identification from trace amount of highly contaminated and degraded forensic specimens.