DNA fingerprinting from single cells

Van Oorschot and Jones reported in Scientific Correspondence1 that short tandem repeat (STR) profiles (DNA fingerprints) can be obtained from cells left on pens, car keys, and so on. Although this technique is a dramatic breakthrough with important implications for forensic science, there are two main limitations. First, more than 1 ng DNA (equivalent to 200 cells) is required; and second, a single STR locus is used, which does not provide much information. Here we report a system for determining STR profiles from single cells using six forensic STR markers, which we believe is the first time that single cells have been typed using modern forensic techniques.