A RAPID AND QUANTITATIVE DNA SEX TEST - FLUORESCENCE-BASED PCR ANALYSIS OF X-Y HOMOLOGOUS GENE AMELOGENIN

A rapid, simple and reliable sex test that entails PCR amplification o f a segment of the X-Y homologous gene amelogenin has been developed. We used a single pair of primers spanning part of the first intron whi ch generated 106-bp and 112-bp PCR products from the X and Y homologue s, respectively, that can be analyzed simply by agarose gel electropho resis. Less than 1 ng of template DNA is required for gender assignmen t, and the test has been automated by the fluorescent tagging of the P CR products that are then quantitated during electrophoresis by automa ted fluorescence-detection technology. Quantitation enables sex chromo some aneuploidy to be determined, and the amelogenin intron sequence c an also be co-amplified with several highly polymorphic microsatellite loci, thereby providing a combined gender/identity DNA test.