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Internal validation of the GA118-24B Genetic Analyzer, a stable capillary electrophoresis system for forensic DNA identification

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Abstract

The GA118-24B Genetic Analyzer (hereafter, “GA118-24B”) is an independently developed capillary electrophoresis instrument. In the present research, we designed a series of validation experiments to test its performance at detecting DNA fragments compared to the Applied Biosystems 3500 Genetic Analyzer (hereafter, “3500”). Three commercially available autosomal short tandem repeat multiplex kits were used in this validation. The results showed that GA118-24B had acceptable spectral calibration for three kits. The results of accuracy and concordance studies were also satisfactory. GA118-24B showed excellent precision, with a standard deviation of less than 0.1 bp. Sensitivity and mixture studies indicated that GA118-24B could detect low-template DNA and complex mixtures as well as the results generated by 3500 in parallel experiments. Based on the experimental results, we set specific analytical and stochastic thresholds. Besides, GA118-24B showed superiority than 3500 within certain size ranges in the resolution study. Instead of conventional commercial multiplex kits, GA118-24B performed stably on a self-developed eight-dye multiplex system, which were not performed on 3500 Genetic Analyzer. We compared our validation results with those of previous research and found our results to be convincing. Overall, we conclude that GA118-24B is a stable and reliable genetic analyzer for forensic DNA identification.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 82271928 and No. 82230064) and the National Key Research and Development Program (2021YFC3300104). This work was also supported by the foundation from joint postgraduate training base between Central South University and the First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security of P.R.C (No. 2020pyjd23).

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Author notes

  1. Bowei Jiang and Lagabaiyila Zha contributed equally to this article and they are co-corresponding authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Science, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, No. 172. Tongzipo Road, Changsha, 410013, China

    Weifeng Qu, Yi Liu, Dan Wen, Chudong Wang, Hongtao Jia, Ruyi Xu, Xuan Tang, Siqi Chen, **aoyi Fu, Xue Li, Jienan Li, Ying Liu, Jifeng Cai & Lagabaiyila Zha

  2. Ministry of Public Security of P.R.C., The First Research Institute, No. 1. Shouti South Road, Bei**g, 100044, China

    Feng Wang, Dan Sun, Ningjie Zhang, Haibo Rong, Tao Zhang, Chuan **, Li Chen & Bowei Jiang

  3. Public Security Department of Hainan Province, No. 9. Binya Road, Hainan, 570203, China

    **n **

  4. Criminal Technology Detachment, Public Security Bureau of Harbin, No. 35. Dongfeng Road, Harbin, 150010, China

    Zheng Gong

  5. Criminal Investigation Detachment, Public Security Bureau of Bei**g, No. 44. Banbuqiao Road, Bei**g, 102611, China

    **jie Liu

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  1. Weifeng Qu
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Correspondence to Bowei Jiang or Lagabaiyila Zha.

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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University (Hunan Province, China; No. 2021-KT07).

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Qu, W., Wang, F., Sun, D. et al. Internal validation of the GA118-24B Genetic Analyzer, a stable capillary electrophoresis system for forensic DNA identification. Int J Legal Med 138, 361–373 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-03106-x

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