Large-scale concordance study for 16 autosomal STRs analyzed with PowerPlex ESI17 and NGM SElect

This study aimed at identifying the frequency of kit-dependent discordances and genetic specialties in STR DNA typing, which is particularly important for the interpretation of DNA profiles as well as national and international database searches. We analyzed a total of 27′510 buccal swabs with the PowerPlex ESI 17 and NGM SElect amplification kits and documented discordances and other anomalies. We found kit-dependent full dropouts to be the most frequent events, most of which were associated with the NGM SElect kit. The total kit-dependent discordance rate determined in this study amounts to 0.74%. With this dataset, we also provide dropout rates, which can be used to estimate silent allele frequencies for 16 common STR loci amplified with the PowerPlex ESI17 and NGM SElect amplification kits.