PATERNITY TESTING IN THE DNA ERA

Paternity can be efficiently and effectively tested using multiallelic variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms. This can be achieved by using multilocus DNA fingerprinting probes or batteries of single-locus minisatellite probes, or by PCR testing of sets of minisatellite and microsatellite loci. Although some problems of statistics and population genetics remain to be overcome, the informativeness of these hypervariable loci is so high that paternity disputes call be resolved with certainty in virtually every case.