Molecular Markers for Human Sex Determination in Forensic Genetics Analysis

Sex determination is indispensable in forensic anthropology, sexual disorder, and also as part of large-scale genetic population studies. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the human sex from whole blood using multiplex PCR analysis. Blood samples from 75 male and 70 female healthy volunteers were taken from Tikrit city, Iraq. Our study identified a reliable set of three primer locus, namely SRY, ALT1 (internal control) and amelogenin locus. The SRY primer on the Y chromosome showed a 254 bp of PCR product, with 100% accuracy for human male identification. Thus, the pair of SRY primers was considered a strong genetic marker for human sex identification. Amelogenin regions in the Y chromosome showed a true positive band (236 bp) with 100% accuracy on sex identification. Amelogenin regions in X chromosome also showed positive bands (330 bp) in female samples and positive band in male samples except for two samples showed a negative band (null bands). The most obvious finding from this study is that multiplex PCR of ALT1 and SRY is consider as a reliable genetic marker for human sex identification. The research has also shown that amelogenin is good genetic marker for human sex identification.

A rapid method for sex identification in Cannabis sativa using High Resolution Melt (HRM) analysis.

We report the identification of two SNPs in Cannabis sativa that are associated with female and male plant sex phenotypes, and are located on the top arm of the X chromosome. High Resolution Melt analysis was used to develop and validate a novel, rapid method for sex identification in medical/recreational cannabis as well as in hemp. This method can distinguish between dioecious male (XY) and dioecious female (XX) cannabis plants with 100% accuracy, and can also be used to differentiate between male and female Humulus lupulus (hop) plants.

Individual tracking reveals first breeding of Oriental Storks at age 2 years in the wild

In this study, we report the first ever documented instances of attempted and successful reproduction (rearing two offspring) of Oriental Storks (Ciconia boyciana) at age 2 years in a wild population in the middle Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin in Russia, using a combination of GPS-GSM tracking, DNA sex identification and field verification.

Short Communication: A new primer set in CHD1 gene for bird sex identification

Vera F, Wajjwalku W, Yuda P, Daryono BS. 2021. Short Communication: A new primer set in CHD1 gene for bird sex identification. Biodiversitas 22: 4977-4982. Determine sex is difficult for many bird species that are sexually monomorphic or only dimorphic in the adult stage. Many molecular markers have been developed for DNA sexing, which were mostly based on identifying Z and W chromosomes of avians. The sex determination of birds was mostly applied universal primer set such as P2/P8 or 2550F/2718R. However, those universal primers that were designed sometimes could not good result consistency in non-ratite birds or ratite birds. Therefore, we improved a specific primer design with deletion site in W chromosome to amplify the female-specific segments on Chromodomain-helicase DNA binding protein-1 (CHD1) gene from alignment sequences CHD1-Z and CHD1-W of Macrocephalon maleo S. Müller, 1846. This study aims to design a new pair of primer targeting a section of the CHD1 gene that can be amplified in non-ratite birds, the name of a new primer is In-Sex F/In-Sex R. A new primer set amplified DNA fragments in around 650 or 550 base pairs of CHD1-Z and also, 350 base pairs of CHD1-W. The result has successfully amplified the sex of multiple species on orders Galliformes, Passeriformes, Accipitriformes, and Strigiformes. This analysis can be helpful to the effort of in-situ or ex-situ management and conservation programs e.g the mating system in birds. And also, the analysis can be helpful for sexing data in the case of captive birds before releasing in natural habitat or reintroduction programs.