Forensic Applications of Whole Genome Amplification

Whole genome amplification (WGA) has been touted as a possible technique to augment fragment analysis of STRs in amplifying low-levels of DNA recovered from crime scenes or items. Only LCN DNA analysis is routinely used as an additional amplification step; but this is not without problems, such as the increased incidents of stochastic variations.
A review of the literature was carried out in order to assess the latest research and to identify a potentially fit for purpose whole genome amplification technique.
There are three potential alternative techniques which show promise, miPEP, dcDOP-PCR and MDA used in conjunction with a macromolecular crowder; with the majority of studies investigating the effect of non-crowded MDA on a variety of stains, including degraded, low-level and stains containing mixtures of DNA.
A number of techniques are suggested for incorporation into STR analysis depending on the sample type as well as future strands of work.