Sex determination of forensic samples by polymerase chain reaction of the amelogenin gene and analysis by capillary electrophoresis with polymer matrix

The aim of this study was to validate an application of GenePrint Sex Determination System based on amplification of a section of the X-Y homologous gene amelogenin followed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products for gender testing of forensic DNA. It was found that subnanogram quantities of male and female DNA were correctly detected by this system. Experiments were performed to investigate the possibility of quantitating the X-Y chromosome-specific PCR products to disclose sex-mixed DNA samples. It was found that observed electrophoretic profiles correctly reflected an X-Y chromosome proportion of the DNA sample which was introduced into the PCR mix. The tested amelogenin PCR-CE system was successfully used for gender testing of a wide range of biological evidence including sex-mixed DNA samples from rape cases. These results demonstrate that the tested amelogenin PCR-CE system is a useful tool for gender determination of forensic DNA.