NCJ Number
212913
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 31-38
Date Published
January 2006
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study tested the feasibility of using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to obtain the DNA profiles for 40 Red Maple (Acer rubrum) trees.
Abstract
AFLP is a powerful method of DNA analysis that combines techniques from classical hybridization-based and PCR-based genotyping strategies. AFLP can be used to genotype DNA's of any origin and complexity. This study found that AFLP identified the DNA profiles of the plants examined; however, as the number of trees tested increased, distinction between them became more difficult due to the increased probability that two trees would exhibit similar profiles for a particular primer pair combination. Additional markers can be observed, however, by using different primer pair combinations in tandem analyses. Changing the selective nucleotides of the unlabeled primer used in the selective amplification would provide additional information to discriminate among trees, based upon a different set of AFLP fragments. This would not require an additional sample. For forensic samples that do not contain sufficient information to identify species, a small AFLP database of similar species from a particular location may provide the information necessary to determine species by using species-specific peaks. The testing used 5 leaves from each of 40 different Red Maple trees located in Hamilton Township, NJ. The description of methods used addresses DNA extraction, restriction digestion, AFLP procedures, the ligation of adapters, preamplification, selective amplification, capillary electrophoresis, and fragment analysis. 1 table, 5 figures, and 24 references