Short Tandem Repeats Profiling

DNA is the blueprint of life, found in almost every living organism, and working as a set of instructions governing every aspect of the functioning and composition of each individual. While most of the DNA shared by organisms of a species is identical, certain locations of DNA exhibit variations in sequences. The analysis of these locations or loci, with variations in DNA sequences, serves as the basic principle behind individual identification through DNA profiling. One commonly practiced method of individual identification using DNA profiling of mapping variations in the length of repeated sequences is the Short Tandem Repeats Profiling. Short Tandem Repeats (STR) have played a significant role in advancing the applications of DNA science in forensic individual identification. The discovery of Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA and its application in forensic science initiated the implementation of the DNA profiling process to create databases of DNA at a national level (Gill et al., Forensic Sci Int Genet 18:100–117, 2015).