SNP typing strategies

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing is likely to be an adjunct forensic technology to be used when short tandem repeat (STR) typing fails to yield a result or when only a partial profile is obtained. It is anticipated that forensic SNP analyses will be applied to typing mtDNA, Y chromosome lineage analyses, characterizing highly degraded DNA samples, assessing biogeographical ancestry, and typing for determining physical characteristics. As examples, three SNP typing strategies are briefly described. They are SNaP shot(TM), SNPstream(R) Ultra High Throughput System, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The latter approach offers certain advantages for SNP analysis, particularly so for mtDNA typing.