Patent ID: 8407010

Claim:
A method of forensic analysis of a sample comprising mitochondrial DNA comprising: selecting a region of mitochondrial DNA comprising at least one restriction site whereat a restriction enzyme cleaves said mitochondrial DNA to produce a plurality of restriction fragments; populating a relational database of known mitochondrial DNA sequences with base compositions which correspond to theoretical restriction fragments obtained from theoretical digestion of each member of said database at said at least one restriction site; selecting a primer pair with which to amplify said region of mitochondrial DNA in said sample; amplifying said region of mitochondrial DNA in said sample to produce an amplification product; digesting said amplification product with at least one restriction enzyme to produce a plurality of restriction fragments; experimentally determining the base compositions of each member of said plurality of restriction fragments, wherein said base composition is determined without sequencing said restriction fragments; and comparing said experimentally determined base compositions with the base compositions of said theoretical digestion of each member of said database, wherein at least one match or lack of a match provides a forensic conclusion.