Massively Parallel Sequencing Of Forensic Strs Using The Ion Chef (Tm) And The Ion S5 (Tm) Xl Systems

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been used to genotype forensic short tandem repeat (STR) markers for individual identification and kinship analysis. STR data from several NGS platforms have been published, but forensic application trials using the Ion S5 (TM) XL system have not been reported. In this work, we report sensitivity, reproducibility, mixture, simulated degradation, and casework sample data on the Ion Chef (TM) and S5 (TM) XL systems using an early access 25-plex panel. Sensitivity experiments showed that over 97% of the alleles were detectable with down to 62 pg input of genomic DNA. In mixture studies, alleles from minor contributors were correctly assigned at 1:9 and 9:1 ratios. NGS successfully gave 12 full genotype results from 13 challenging casework samples, compared with five full results using the CE platform. In conclusion, the Ion Chef (TM) and the Ion S5 (TM) XL systems provided an alternative and promising approach for forensic STR genotyping.