A BIOSTATISTICAL STUDY INTO THE EFFICIENCY OF INDIVIDUALIZATION USINGNONISOTOPIC CHEMILUMINESCENT-ENHANCED NICE(TM) MULTILOCUS DNA PROBES

The efficiency of individualisation using nonisotopic chemiluminescent -enhanced probes (NICE(TM)) was investigated by analysing DNA fingerpr ints obtained from 190 unrelated Caucasians. Novel analysis of the sco ring procedure enabled us to include the comparison of 585 pairs of sa mples for each of two probes. When the results of NICE probes 33.6 and 33.15 were combined, the mean percentage band share between two unrel ated individuals was 16.8% and the mean number of bands identified in an individual DNA fingerprint was 54.8. Results were compared with tho se obtained using isotopically labelled probes and suggest that the tw o labelling systems gave similar efficiencies for differentiating betw een individuals. Analysis of DNA fingerprints from 37 family trios (mo ther, child and father groups) gave a mutation rate of 0.10% when usin g NICE probes. The two labelling systems compared were equally efficie nt in establishing family relationships.