CHARACTERIZATION OF 4 MICROSATELLITES IN AN ITALIAN POPULATION AND THEIR APPLICATION TO PATERNITY TESTING

Microsatellites have recently been used for linkage analysis of geneti c diseases and for DNA fingerprinting in forensic medicine. In the pre sent study the heterozygosity, PIC values and allele distributions of four microsatellites, D8S85, D8S88, D5S346 and D7S460, in an Italian p opulation have been investigated. After amplification with primers spe cific for each locus, alleles were separated and detected by denaturin g gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining. High heterozygosi ty and PIC values were observed for all microsatellites in accordance with data in other Caucasian populations. However, different allele di stributions for D8S85, D8S88 and D5S346, due to the presence of additi onal bands or to different frequencies, were found. D7S460, which has never been fully characterized before, appeared to have five alleles i n the range 172 to 188 bp. When used for paternity testing, all micros atellites gave results which were consistent with those obtained with established markers, including apo B 3'HVR, D1S80 and COL2A1. This ind icates that D8S85, D8S88, D5S346 and D7S460 may be useful as additiona l informative markers or for solving discrepancies in selected cases. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited