This article addresses the multiple ways of counting and bracketing alleles for short tandem repeat locus D6S474 and for STR locus DYS612, highlighting a need for standardization of reporting in forensic literature.
The autosomal STR D6S474 and the Y-chromosomal STR DYS612 have been reported in multiple ways in the forensic literature, with differences in both the bracketed repeat structures and counting of numerical length-based capillary electrophoresis (CE) alleles. These issues often come to light when STR loci are introduced in commercial assays and results compared with historical publications of allele frequency data, or multiple assays are characterized with reference materials. In this paper, the authors review the forensic literature and other relevant information and provide suggestions for the future treatment of each STR. (Published Abstract Provided)