Assessing Deep Sequencing Technology for Human Forensic mitochondrial DNA

The researchers propose to evaluate two newly emerging methods of DNA sequence analysis to obtain massively parallel mtDNA sequence information (deep sequencing) from hair, buccal, and blood samples. The expanded information available from deep mtDNA sequence analysis will reveal whether or not interpretational changes in forensic mtDNA analysis of such samples are necessary, as well as the extent to which deep sequencing can offer a window into a level of variation that is currently underappreciated in forensic casework. This effort will also reveal the general level of sequence heteroplasmy present in hair samples as compared to blood and buccal samples, all common targets of forensic mtDNA analysis.

ca/ncf