Polymorphisms of twelve short tandem repeat loci in a Taiwanese populationand their application in parentage testing

With the advancement of techniques in molecular biology, rapid, sensitive, and reliable methods of DNA typing for parentage testing hare become availa ble. ill this study, we evaluated die usefulness of multiplex polymerase ch ain reaction (PCR) with 12 unlinked short tandem repent (STR) loci for pate rnity testing in Taiwan. The genetic informativeness of this test was then compared with that of conventional human leukocyte antigen (HLA) analysis i n 167 parentage studies. The 12 STR loci alone provided a cumulative power of exclusion of up to 0.9998. Paternity was excluded in 59 (35.3%) cases, i ncluding 40 of 112 paternity trios and 19 of 55 paternity dues. In the 40 t rios in which paternity was excluded, a mean of 6 (range, 3-9) incompatible STR markers were in the 19 dues in which paternity; was excluded, a mean o f 4 (range, 1-8) incompatible STR markers were noted. In the 72 trios in wh ich the alleged paternity could not be excluded. the mean probabilities of paternity (PP) were 90.6863% with HLA testing alone, 99.9847% with STR anal ysis alone, and 99.9972% with combined HLA and STR analysis. In the 36 dues in which the alleged paternity could not be excluded, the mean PPs were 81 .4768% with HLA rt sting alone, 99.6124% with STR analysis alone, and 99.91 45% with combined HLA and STR analysis. These results suggest that STR anal ysis is very powerful when used alone for paternity trio testing: and when combined with conventional serologic HLA typing for duo parentage testing i n the Taiwan population.