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Abstract

The present invention relates to a DNA profiling assay for detecting polymorphisms in a short tandem repeat. The method includes the steps of extracting DNA from a sample to be tested, amplifying the extracted DNA and identifying the amplified extension products for each different sequence. Each different sequence is differentially labeled. In the method, internal and external standards can also be used. The method is applicable to a wide variety of forensic and medical samples, including blood, semen, vaginal swaps, tissue, hair, saliva, urine and mixtures of body fluids. A short tandem repeat sequence which can be characterized by the formula (A.sub.w G.sub.x T.sub.y C.sub.z).sub.n, wherein A, G, T and C represent the nucleotides, w, x, y and z represent the number of nucleotide and range from 0 to 7 and the sum of w+x+y+z ranges from 3 to 7 and n represents the repeat number and ranges from 5 to 50. The labels can be from a variety of groups, including fluorescers, radioisotopes, chemiluminescers, stains, enzymes and antibodies. Also described is a kit. Further, a method of detecting the polymorphic short tandem repeats comprising the steps of either searching for the repeats in a data base or comparing oligonucleotides and searching for the repeats in a genetic library.

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First Claim