Patent ID: 11345953

Abstract:
A process of quantifying the extent of degradation present in a human DNA sample is described. The process makes use of a real time PCR system to separately quantitate within a sample a first retrotransposon interspersed element and a relatively longer second retrotransposon interspersed element, where the longer element is expected to be disrupted at a faster pace than is the shorter element as the sample degrades. In one embodiment, the process makes use of the appearance of the relatively young (on an evolutionary scale) Alu Yb-lineage subfamily sequences appearing in every human genome and their virtual absence in non-human samples. In a preferred embodiment, the process quantifies longer 290 bp sequences of “SVA” elements and shorter 80 bp sequences of Alu Yb8-lineage. Newly designed primers and TaqMan probes that are useful in the process are presented. A related process additionally quantifies male specific human DNA.