Eleven highly informative microsatelite repeat polymorphic DNA markers

An assay for detecting dinucleotide or tetranucleotide repeats in a sample comprising a nucleic acid, which assay comprises the steps of:

• a) obtaining a nucleic acid sample comprising dinucleotide or tetranucleotide repeats in an amount sufficient for testing by PCR,
• b) amplifying specific DNA fragments in said sample by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure using a pair of oligonucleotide primers capable of amplifying said dinucleotide or tetranucleotide repeats, said oligonucleotide primers having nucleotide sequences selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:64 through SEQ ID NO:
• 85 and variants of said sequences of about 15 to about 25 nucleotides in length, provided that said variants have sufficient complementarity to a target sequence so as to be able to hybridize with said target sequence sufficiently well to permit primer extension by a polymerase enzyme in a PCR reaction,
• c) resolving the amplified fragments using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and
• d) detecting the migration patterns of said amplified fragments due to length variation resulting from said dinucleotide or tetranucleotide repeats.

A method of correlating the source of a test sample comprising a nucleic acid with an individual, said method comprising:

• a) obtaining a nucleic acid sample from an individual;
• b) performing PCR amplification of the nucleic acid sample in step a) using a least one pair of oligonucleotide primers to provide at least one amplified nucleic acid product from said individual, said at least one pair of oligonucleotide primers having nucleotide sequences selected from the group consisting of (i) SEQ ID NO:64 and SEQ ID NO:65;
• (ii) SEQ ID NO:66 and SEQ ID NO:67;
• (iii) SEQ ID NO:68 and SEQ ID NO:69;
• (iv) SEQ ID NO:70 and SEQ ID NO:71;
• (v) SEQ ID NO:72 and SEQ ID NO:73;
• (vi) SEQ ID NO:74 and SEQ ID NO:75;
• (vii) SEQ ID NO:76 and SEQ ID NO:77;
• (viii) SEQ ID NO:78 and SEQ ID NO:79;
• (ix) SEQ ID NO:80 and SEQ ID NO:81;
• (x) SEQ ID NO:82 and SEQ ID No:83;
• (xi) SEQ ID NO:84 and SEQ ID NO:85, and variants of said sequences of about 15 to about 25 nucleotides in length, provided that said variants have sufficient complementarity to a target sequence in said nucleic acid in the test sample so as to be able to hybridize with said target sequence sufficiently well to permit primer extension by a polymerase enzyme in a PCR reaction;
• c) performing PCR amplification of the test sample nucleic acid using at least one pair of oligonucleotide primers to provide at lest one amplified product from said test sample, wherein the at least one pair of oligonucleotide primers selected is the same as the at least one pair of oligonucleotide primers selected in step b);
• d) resolving the amplified products of steps b) and c) by gel electrophoresis;
• and
• e) comparing the mobility of the amplified products from said individual with the mobility of the amplified products from said test sample, wherein the mobilities compared provide a measure of the correlation between the source of said test sample and said individual.