DNA Profiling of the Semen Donor in Extended Interval Post-Coital Samples

Many rape victims provide samples several days after the sexual assault. This often precludes the ability to obtain a standard autosomal STR profile from the semen donor. In previous work, the principal investigator reported the ability to obtain Y STR DNA profiles from samples taken up to four days after sexual activity. This proposal seeks to develop additional strategies to further increase the post-coital interval from which Y STR DNA profiles of the semen donor can be obtained (i.e. > 4 days post-coitus). The strategies to achieve this include 1) improved sample clean-up, 2) the use of high sensitivity Y-STR multiplexes, 3) the use of mini-Y-STRs, and 4) the use of alternative polymerases in the PCR reaction.

ca/ncf