Use of chloroplast SSR regions to analyze DNA polymorphisms in Poaceae

Abstract

Identiˆcation of unknown plant samples collected from crime scenes is carried out by morphological observation or plant DNA barcoding. However, DNA barcoding is rarely performed because the DNA typing performed by forensic science laboratories in Japanese police departments generally does not involve DNA sequencing techniques. Therefore, it is necessary to develop plant identiˆcation and discrimination methods involving DNA fragment analysis that can be performed in these laboratories. A total of 66 plant samples (Poaceae, Typhaceae, and Cyperaceae) were analyzed by examining 8 sets of consensus primer pairs in simple sequence repeat regions of the chloroplast genome. The DNA fragment lengths of the PCR ampliˆcation products were compared and classiˆed into 61 types. The results of this study may aid in the classiˆcation and identiˆcation of unknown plant samples.