Biostatistical basis of individualization and segregation analysis using the multilocus DNA probe MZ 1.3: results of a collaborative study.

A collaborative study using the multilocus minisatellite DNA probe MZ 1.3 was carried out to investigate segregation information, mutation rate, DNA fragment frequencies as well as band sharing characteristics. The fingerprint patterns of 393 children as well as 694 unrelated individuals were analysed after digestion of DNA with the restriction enzyme HinfI. A mutation rate of 1% per meiosis or 0.04% per band was found with a mean number of 26 bands/individual. It was shown that maternal and paternal fragments are inherited in equal proportions. Population frequencies of restriction fragments demonstrated a distribution with increasing frequencies in the small fragment size range below 10 kb as well as the absence of very common or very rare fragments. Our data can be used to calculate simple exclusion probabilities based on the number of non-maternal bands in the child.