Evaluation of the ALF DNA sequencer for high-speed sizing of short tandem repeat alleles.

DNA typing of short tandem repeat (STR) loci with automated real-time analysis of the fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products has given forensic DNA analysis a new dimension. In the present work, the ALF DNA sequencer was evaluated for automated size determination of tetra-nucleotide STRs at high speed. Short gel plates, with a well-to-laser distance of 10 cm, allowed for the analysis of four STR loci (HUMvWF, HUMTH01, D21S11 and HPRT) in one gel lane in less than 75 min. Allele size determination was done with two external allelic ladders for each locus. Lane-to-lane variations were overcome by the inclusion in each lane of two fluorescent PCR products of constant size (123 and 375 bp) that migrated below and above the multiplex of the four STR loci. The accuracy of sizing and allele detection within and between different gels was high (99.89%) for all four STR systems investigated and the gels could be reloaded without a decrease in accuracy of the allele size estimation. This way, the throughput of the system was increased, which is of interest for linkage studies, gene mapping, and population diversity studies.