Conversion of forensic paternity determination to DNA analysis]

For many years, the resolution of disputed paternity cases by genetic means relied on laboratory blood tests of red cell antigens and red cell and serum protein electrophoresis. These systems are generally characterized as lacking polymorphism and having low powers of exclusion, therefore it was necessary to use a panel of up to 23 marker systems. Over the past five years, a variety of DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) systems have been developed that characterize individuals at the DNA level. In this paper we describe the implementation of a Hae III RFLP system utilized in our laboratory for the resolution of disputed parentage cases as well as forensic casework. Since the analysis of highly polymorphic VNTR loci has proven to be the most powerful method to date for the determination of biological relatedness the utilization of the conventional methodologies should be completely replaced.