Identification of a rare off-ladder allele of the D13S325 locus during paternity testing.

This study demonstrates an unusual rare allele of D13S325 that was falsely categorized as an allele of D12S391 under the STRtyper™-10F/G system. The parentage cases with these rare alleles were analyzed using the Sinofiler™ system and singleplex amplification system, and the alleles of D13S325 extracted from the electrophoresis gel were sequenced. 5 Cases with the rare alleles misread as allele 20 of D12S391 were identified in total 2618 cases (including 3200 unrelated parents). This rare allele was designated as allele 5.1 of D13S325 based on its DNA sequence. Its frequency in the Chinese population was 1.6×10−3. Because the rare allele 5.1 of D13S325 locus tends to be incorrectly labeled in the STRtyper™-10F/G system, particular attention should be paid when the system is used in paternity testing, personal identification, and DNA database comparisons.