Development of a 20plex STR multiplex panel

Abstract

We developed a single reaction, fluorescently labeled in-house STR panel containing 19 autosomal loci plus Amelogenin for forensic use. We chose 18 loci from two commercial kits (AmpFlSTR (R) Identifiler (R), Thermo Fisher Scientific, and The PowerPlex (R) 16 System, Promega) and combined with two mini-STRs (D6S1043 and D12S391) that do not exist in either of the kits to constitute a 20plex panel. The 20plex system is evaluated by specificity, sensitivity, precision and accuracy, analytical threshold, stochastic threshold, heterozygous balance, case-type samples, and PCR-based studies. The results demonstrate that 20plex STR multiplex panel is a robust, reliable and valuable assay for forensic applications.