A Rapid, Efficient and Effective Assay to Determine Species Origin in Biological Materials

This project focuses on the development of a highly sensitive, robust, and rapid DNA method to identify contributing species to biological forensic evidence. It will focus on three genes (cytochrome c oxidase I, cytochrome b, and NADH dehydrogenase 4) in the mitochondrial DNA genome to define molecular signatures for species of interest, both human and non-human, based on sequence variation. The assay will incorporate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to provide sensitivity and multiplexing ability, single base extension (SBE) to provide specificity, and fluorescent detection through capillary electrophoresis to permit easy distribution to existing forensic laboratories.

ca/ncf