Paternity Testing By Associating STR With Differential Methylation Marker Of The Human D15S128 Locus

Purpose: We have developed a novel method of combining conventional STR genotyping and differential methylation of imprinted gene at the D15S128 locus. By this approach we could discriminate the paternal allele and maternal allele. The approach is especially useful in some paternity test cases, for example, the mother and the child have identical heterozygote genotype or in motherless cases.Methods: Parent-of-origin specific DNA methylation was proved by PCR and methylation-sensitive HpyCH4 IV enzyme. The polymorphism of this locus was examined using 100 unrelated Chinese.Results: (1)D15S128 is a high polymorphic STR locus.(2)There are differential methylation status in D15S128 locus , and the methylated allele is from paternal.Conclusions: As a pilot study on combining epigenetic markers with STR in forensic genetics, our results demonstrated the feasibility of using parent-of-origin specific DNA methylation markers to determine the parental origin of alleles.