摘要: Male DNA-containing samples collected from sexual assault or homicide victims can contain very low levels of cellular male DNA admixed with a large number of female epithelial cells. This often results in failure to obtain an auto... 展开 Male DNA-containing samples collected from sexual assault or homicide victims can contain very low levels of cellular male DNA admixed with a large number of female epithelial cells. This often results in failure to obtain an autosomal STR profile from the male DNA donor. Y-STR analysis can been used to overcome this problem. However there are still many instances where such an approach does not work. This is particularly so when the sample is collected many days after the incident, usually as a result of delayed reporting by a rape victim or when there is a significant time interval between death and recovery of a rape/homicide victims body or when the samples manifest some degree of degradation. Recent technological advances in the area of DNA profiling offer the opportunity to improve the number of samples that can be successfully analyzed. Therefore it may be possible to develop strategies to overcome the problems associated with low levels of male DNA in a background of female DNA. We have developed such a method using a selective amplification of loci in Y-chromosomal genomic DNA prior to Y-STR analysis. This genomic partitioning is an effective strategy to further increase the signal to noise ratio of the Y-chromosomal DNA compared with the epithelial DNA and hence allow clear and unambiguous male profiles to be obtained. Additionally, such an approach could also be used to improve the analysis of touch or contact DNA samples, which often contain small amounts of male DNA. 收起