Minisatellite DNA Probe MZ1.3: Band Sharing Rates among Siblings and the Part of Informative Bands among Children

Abstract

After Vassart et al. (1987) had demonstrated the possibility to detect hypervariable fragments in human DNA utilizing the wildtype bacteriophage M13, Schacker et al. (1990) managed to isolate a mmisatellite probe, called MZ1.3 by screening a human library with a DNA probe, which comprised the complete bacteriophage M13mp18. The 27bp repetetive sequence of MZ1.3 shows variable homology of 53% – 73 % to the repetitive sequence of the protein III gene of the M13 genome, whereas it does not indicate a clear homology to the probes 33.6 and 33.15. Yet, it is suitable for producing highly informative fingerprints from human DNA (Schacker et al. 1990). In 1989/90 a collaborative study of eleven European laboratories MZ1.3 (BIOTEST; Art. No. 825020) was initiated in order to test the reproducibilty by different laboratories and to extend the population genetic data (Schneider et al., in preparation). As part of this study we analysed the fingerprints of Caucasian families with three or more children, with respect to the number of informative bands among 186 children and the band sharing rates among siblings.