[Forensic DNA analysis--past and future].

Abstract

Since the introduction of DNA polymorphism analysis techniques to forensic science, forensic identification research has made radical, astonishing progress at a rate that has already rendered the initial methodologies introduced fifteen years ago obsolete. DNA extraction now can be quickly and efficiently performed by various kinds of commercially available kits. The advent of PCR has enabled the use of relatively crude and minute DNA as amplification templates while many kinds of new detection methods for analyzing the amplified products have also been developed. Although many minisatellites such as MCT118, YNZ22, COL2A1, and ApoB were highlighted at the beginning of 1980s, none of these loci, with the exception of MCT118, have proved useful for forensic DNA application due to their low amplification efficiency. On the other hand, STR loci containing four base pair repeat sequences have been used routinely for human identification since the mid-1990s. In the near future, the highly efficient STR should be selected as a consensus core marker in Japan. STR systems located on the Y chromosome are widely used in forensic science for the identification of male individuals. These systems have a special significance in forensic science cases where mixtures of male and female DNA are analyzed, as happens in cases of rape or other sexual crimes. The characteristics of high copy number, maternal inheritance, and high degree of sequence variability make mtDNA a powerful tool for forensic identification. Most of the variations in mtDNA among individuals are found within the displacement loop (D-loop). In all population groups, mtDNA sequences can be useful for discriminating among unrelated individuals. Now it is necessary to get as much as possible individual genetic information as quickly as possible in order to enable individual identification. We will create a new era in which forensic identification can be performed using microarray technology.