Forensic animal DNA typing: Allele nomenclature and standardization of 14 feline STR markers.

Since the domestic cat (Felis catus) has become one of the most popular pets and owners usually develop a close relationship to their cats, it is necessary to take traces of cats into account for forensic casework. For this purpose feline short tandem (STR) repeat markers have been investigated in several earlier studies, but no detailed description of sequence data, allelic variations or a repeat-based nomenclature is available. The aim of the study was to provide a suggestion for the allele nomenclature of 14 cat STR markers according to the recommendations of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) for human DNA typing and to present a standardized system for a secure DNA typing of samples. Samples of 122 unrelated cats from a local animal shelter and private owners in Germany were used to generate a population database with allele frequencies and to analyze the tandemly repeated sequence variations within the alleles of each STR marker. These markers could be grouped into two STR classes: simple repeat STRs and complex STRs (some with the supplement highly complex), consisting of di- and tetranucleotide repeat motifs. After analyzing the repeat structure and elaborating a repeat based nomenclature, allelic ladders of common and rarely occurring alleles for each marker were designed to enable accurate typing of alleles that differ in fragment length and to facilitate data exchange.