NCJ Number
234614
Journal
Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2011 Pages: 202-209
Date Published
June 2011
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper presents a framework for handling silent alleles, allelic dropouts, and stutter bands when interpreting STR DNA profiles from a mixture sample found at a crime scene using peak size information resulting from a PCR analysis.
Abstract
This paper discusses a framework for incorporating the possible presence of stutter bands, silent alleles, and allelic dropouts in a mixture of forensic samples found at crime scenes. An important feature of the model is that it does not assume that such artifacts are definitely present or definitely not present at the start of the analysis, but rather allows for the artifacts to be easily incorporated into the model one at a time as network fragments. The article looks at how the model works using the three different artifacts: allelic dropouts occur which when some alleles fail to get selected for input into the PCR apparatus, silent alleles that are not recorded by the equipment used in the analysis, and stutter bands that are considered allelic in nature and result from slippage of the Taq polymerase enzyme. The article presents the results of the model as it is applied to an actual published case. Figures, tables, and references