PCR ANALYSIS OF THE SHORT TANDEM REPEAT (STR) SYSTEM HUMVWA31 ALLELE AND GENOTYPE FREQUENCIES IN AN ITALIAN POPULATION-SAMPLE

A population study in a sample of 211 unrelated individuals from 2 cit ies in North and Central Italy was carried out to investigate the shor t tandem repeat (STR) system HUMVWA31. Separation of PCR- amplified DN A fragments was performed by high-resolution horizontal denaturing pol yacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) followed by silver staining. Th e 7 common alleles were found, together with a new smaller allele. Dis tribution of the observed genotypes did not deviate from Hardy-Weinber g (H-W) equilibrium. The power of discrimination for this locus was 0. 93 and the chance of exclusion was 0.61. Good agreement was found betw een the allele frequencies in 2 Italian population samples and previou s studies on Caucasians. The results of this study suggest that this S TR system may be a useful tool in forensic investigations.