Development of a multiplex PCR system of 59 mitochondrial SNPs and genetic analysis in Chinese population

Abstract

The analysis of SNPs located on the mitochondrial DNA can provide information on maternal genetics. In the present study, a set of 59 SNPs were detected simultaneously using three multiplex allele-specific PCR and subsequent CE. Allele-specific primers were designed with different sizes to allow for specifically amplified paired alleles in the same reaction. An allelic ladder based on reference alleles was also created to maintain high-quality analysis standard. Samples from 400 unrelated individuals (200 of Han population and 200 of Uyghur population, China) were successfully analyzed and assigned into 106 relevant haplotypes, resulting in a discrimination power of 98.5%. The haplotype diversity was 0.978 for Han and 0.972 for Uyghur, respectively. Pairwise comparison of haplotype frequency distributions showed significant difference across ethnicities. These results suggest that the 59-SNP PCR system is a reliable, rapid, and economical method for large-scale screening of mitochondrial DNA variation, adding a new aspect for forensic individual identification.