TY - JOUR
T1 - An inter-laboratory study of DNA-based identity, parentage and species testing in animal forensic genetics
AU - Kanthaswamy, Sreetharan
AU - Brendel, Torsten
AU - Cancela, Luis
AU - Andrade de Oliveira, Denise A.
AU - Brenig, Bertram
AU - Cons, Carmen
AU - Crespi, Julian A.
AU - Dajbychová, Markéta
AU - Feldl, Andreas
AU - Itoh, Tomohito
AU - Landi, Vincenzo
AU - Martinez, Amparo
AU - Natonek-Wisniewska, Malgorzata
AU - Oldt, Robert F.
AU - Radko, Anna
AU - Ramírez, Oscar
AU - Rodellar, Clementina
AU - Ruiz-Girón, Manuel
AU - Schikorski, David
AU - Turba, María Elena
AU - Giovambatista, Guillermo
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Christopher C. Adams of Thermo Fisher Scientific for providing the Canine Genotypes™ Panels 1.1 and 2.1 Kit. We thank the members of ISAG’s Animal Forensic Genetics Standing Committee for supporting and facilitating the 2016 and 2018 AFCTs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Academy of Forensic Science.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The probative value of animal forensic genetic evidence relies on laboratory accuracy and reliability. Inter-laboratory comparisons allow laboratories to evaluate their performance on specific tests and analyses and to continue to monitor their output. The International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) administered animal forensic comparison tests (AFCTs) in 2016 and 2018 to assess the limitations and capabilities of laboratories offering forensic identification, parentage and species determination services. The AFCTs revealed that analyses of low DNA template concentrations (≤300 pg/µL) constitute a significant challenge that has prevented many laboratories from reporting correct identification and parentage results. Moreover, a lack of familiarity with species testing protocols, interpretation guidelines and representative databases prevented over a quarter of the participating laboratories from submitting correct species determination results. Several laboratories showed improvement in their genotyping accuracy over time. However, the use of forensically validated standards, such as a standard forensic short tandem repeat (STR) kit, preferably with an allelic ladder, and stricter guidelines for STR typing, may have prevented some common issues from occurring, such as genotyping inaccuracies, missing data, elevated stutter products and loading errors. The AFCTs underscore the importance of conducting routine forensic comparison tests to allow laboratories to compare results from each other. Laboratories should keep improving their scientific and technical capabilities and continuously evaluate their personnel’s proficiency in critical techniques such as low copy number (LCN) analysis and species testing. Although this is the first time that the ISAG has conducted comparison tests for forensic testing, findings from these AFCTs may serve as the foundation for continuous improvements of the overall quality of animal forensic genetic testing.
AB - The probative value of animal forensic genetic evidence relies on laboratory accuracy and reliability. Inter-laboratory comparisons allow laboratories to evaluate their performance on specific tests and analyses and to continue to monitor their output. The International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) administered animal forensic comparison tests (AFCTs) in 2016 and 2018 to assess the limitations and capabilities of laboratories offering forensic identification, parentage and species determination services. The AFCTs revealed that analyses of low DNA template concentrations (≤300 pg/µL) constitute a significant challenge that has prevented many laboratories from reporting correct identification and parentage results. Moreover, a lack of familiarity with species testing protocols, interpretation guidelines and representative databases prevented over a quarter of the participating laboratories from submitting correct species determination results. Several laboratories showed improvement in their genotyping accuracy over time. However, the use of forensically validated standards, such as a standard forensic short tandem repeat (STR) kit, preferably with an allelic ladder, and stricter guidelines for STR typing, may have prevented some common issues from occurring, such as genotyping inaccuracies, missing data, elevated stutter products and loading errors. The AFCTs underscore the importance of conducting routine forensic comparison tests to allow laboratories to compare results from each other. Laboratories should keep improving their scientific and technical capabilities and continuously evaluate their personnel’s proficiency in critical techniques such as low copy number (LCN) analysis and species testing. Although this is the first time that the ISAG has conducted comparison tests for forensic testing, findings from these AFCTs may serve as the foundation for continuous improvements of the overall quality of animal forensic genetic testing.
KW - Forensic sciences
KW - comparison test
KW - forensic DNA analysis
KW - forensic genetics
KW - individual identification
KW - parentage test
KW - species test
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U2 - 10.1080/20961790.2021.1886679
DO - 10.1080/20961790.2021.1886679
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110833595
SN - 2096-1790
VL - 7
SP - 708
EP - 713
JO - Forensic Sciences Research
JF - Forensic Sciences Research
IS - 4
ER -