Highlights
- •The performance of 3 qPCR quantification kits & compatibilities w/6-dye profiling kits is tested.
- •PowerQuant (PQ) displays the highest precision.
- •Trio & PQ give better correlations w/lower deviations between autosomal & male DNA quantification.
- •Trio & PQ values correlate well with GlobalFiler (GF) & Fusion 6C results.
- •Inhibition forecast: Quantiplex suits ID+ & 24plex, whereas Trio & PQ fit GF & 6C.
Abstract
DNA quantification plays an integral role in forensic DNA profiling. Not only does
it estimate the total amount of amplifiable human autosomal and male DNA to ensure
optimal amplification of target DNA for subsequent analysis, but also assesses the
extraction efficiency and purity of the DNA extract. Latest DNA quantification systems
even offer an estimate for the degree of DNA degradation in a sample. Here, we report
the performance of three new generation qPCR kits, namely Investigator® Quantiplex HYres Kit from QIAGEN, Quantifiler® Trio DNA Quantification Kit from Applied Biosystems™, and PowerQuant® System from Promega, and their compatibilities with three 6-dye DNA profiling systems.
Our results have demonstrated that all three kits generate standard curves with satisfactory
consistency and reproducibility, and are capable of screening out traces of male DNA
in the presence of 30-fold excess of female DNA. They also exhibit a higher tolerance
to PCR inhibition than Quantifiler® Human DNA Quantification Kit from Applied Biosystems™ in autosomal DNA quantification.
PowerQuant®, as compared to Quantiplex HYres and Quantifiler® Trio, shows a better precision for both autosomal and male DNA quantifications. Quantifiler® Trio and PowerQuant® in contrast to Quantiplex HYres offer better correlations with lower discrepancies
between autosomal and male DNA quantification, and their additional degradation index
features provide a detection platform for inhibited and/or degraded DNA template.
Regarding the compatibility between these quantification and profiling systems: (1)
both Quantifiler® Trio and PowerQuant® work well with GlobalFiler and Fusion 6C, allowing a fairly accurate prediction of
their DNA typing results based on the quantification values; (2) Quantiplex HYres
offers a fairly reliable IPC system for detecting any potential inhibitions on Investigator
24plex, whereas Quantifiler® Trio and PowerQuant® suit better for GlobalFiler and Fusion 6C.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 28, 2017
Accepted:
November 24,
2017
Received in revised form:
November 23,
2017
Received:
August 25,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
