HLA DQ-ALPHA TYPING OF FORENSIC SPECIMENS BY AMPLIFICATION RESTRICTION FRAGMENT POLYMORPHISM (ARFP) ANALYSIS

The alleles present at the HLA DQ-alpha locus may be typed by either allele specific oligonucleotide (ASO) probing or by restriction mapping, referred to here as amplification restriction fragment polymorphism (ARFP) analysis. ASO typing relies upon hybridization principles, whereas ARFP typing relies upon restriction site analysis. Dot-blot ASO typings which are of doubtful interpretation may be directly checked by ARFP analysis. Aliquots of the PCR products amplified using the commercial Amplitype HLA DQ-alpha system are digested with suitable restriction endonucleases. Electrophoresis, blotting and detection of biotin-labelled restriction fragments provides a sensitive and robust typing method suited to forensic analysis.