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01-09-2007 | Original Article

Molecular characterization of the canine mitochondrial DNA control region for forensic applications

Authors: Cordula Eichmann, Walther Parson

Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine | Issue 5/2007

Abstract

The canine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region of 133 dogs living in the area around Innsbruck, Austria was sequenced. A total of 40 polymorphic sites were observed in the first hypervariable segment and 15 in the second, which resulted in the differentiation of 40 distinct haplotypes. We observed five nucleotide positions that were highly polymorphic within different haplogroups, and they represent good candidates for mtDNA screening. We found five point heteroplasmic positions; all located in HVS-I and a polythymine region in HVS-II, the latter often being associated with length heteroplasmy. In contrast to human mtDNA, the canine control region contains a hypervariable 10 nucleotide repeat region, which is located between the two hypervariable regions. In our population sample, we observed eight different repeat types, which we characterized by direct sequencing and fragment length analysis. The discrimination power of the canine mtDNA control region was 0.93, not taking the polymorphic repeat region into consideration.

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Title: Molecular characterization of the canine mitochondrial DNA control region for forensic applications
Authors: Cordula Eichmann
Walther Parson
Publication date: 01-09-2007
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Journal of Legal Medicine / Issue 5/2007
Print ISSN: 0937-9827
Electronic ISSN: 1437-1596
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-006-0143-5

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Molecular characterization of the canine mitochondrial DNA control region for forensic applications

Abstract

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