Developmental validation of a forensic rapid DNA-STR kit: Expressmarker 16

DNA-STR analysis is widely used in the forensic science field and has important requirements on the analysis time to obtain faster inspections. The developed forensic STR kit, referred to as Expressmarker 16 (EX16), could shorten the amplification time to a minimum of 35 min. It enables 16 STR loci to be co-detected, including 13 CODIS loci, D2S1338, D6S1043 and Amelogenin loci. The kit is validated by a series of tests formed by DNA mixtures, stutter ratios, optimized PCR protocols based on annealing temperature research, species specificities, inhibitors, sensitivity, and parallel tests according to FBI QAS (2009/2011) (QAS, 2009; SWGDAM, 2010). The results demonstrated that EX16 was a useful tool for rapid criminal investigation.