STRs vs. SNPs: thoughts on the future of forensic DNA testing
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Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2007) 3:200–205
DOI 10.1007/s12024-007-0018-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
STRs vs. SNPs: thoughts on the future of forensic DNA testing
John M. Butler Æ Michael D. Coble Æ
Peter M. Vallone
Accepted: 4 January 2007 / Published online: 12 September 2007
Ó Humana Press Inc. 2007
Abstract Largely due to technological progress coming material, we believe that STRs rather than SNPs will
from the Human Genome and International HapMap fulfill the dominant role in human identity testing for the
Projects, the issue has been raised in recent years within foreseeable future. However, SNPs may play a useful role
the forensic DNA typing community of the potential for in specialized applications such as mitochondrial DNA
single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers as possi- (mtDNA) testing, Y-SNPs as lineage markers, ancestry
ble replacements of the currently used short tandem informative markers (AIMs), the prediction of phenotypic
repeat (STR) loci. Our human identity testing project traits, and other potential niche forensic casework
team at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and applications.
Technology (NIST) has explored numerous SNP and STR
loci and assays as well as developing miniSTRs for Keywords DNA DNA typing DNA profiling
degraded DNA samples. Based on their power of dis- Short tandem repeat Single nucleotide polymorphism
crimination, use in deciphering mixture components, and MiniSTR STR SNP mtDNA
ability to be combined in multiplex assays in order to
recover information from low amounts of biological
Introduction
Official disclaimer: Contribution of the U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology. Not subject to copyright. Points of view in
Both length and sequence genetic variation exist in human
this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily populations. These forms of variation enable forensic DNA
represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of testing because many different alleles can exist in non-
Justice. Certain commercial equipment, instruments and materials are coding regions of the genome. When information from
identified in order to specify experimental procedures as completely
as possible. In no case does such identification imply a multiple unlinked genetic markers is combined, high
recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of powers of discrimination are possible. Length variation, in
Standards and Technology nor does it imply that any of the materials, the form of short tandem repeat (STR) markers, has
instruments, or equipment identified are necessarily the best available become the primary means for forensic DNA profiling over
for the purpose. This work was funded in part by the National Institute
of Justice through interagency agreement 2003-IJ-R-029 with the
the past decade [1]. Large national DNA databases now
NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards. exist containing millions of STR profiles based on a few
core STR markers [2, 3].
J. M. Butler (&) M. D. Coble P. M. Vallone While current STR systems and DNA databases are
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Biochemical
working well, the question often posed is ‘‘what does the
Science Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8311, Building
227, Room A243, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA future hold for forensic DNA testing?’’ Will another set of
e-mail: john.butler@nist.gov genetic markers, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs), replace the core STR loci already so effectively in
Present Address:
use? These questions were addressed in 2000 by the
M. D. Coble
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Research Section, Research and Development Working Group of the National
1413 Research Blvd., Bldg 101, Rockville, MD 20850, USA Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence [4] and will
Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2007) 3:200–205 201
be considered here briefly based on the current state of the Significant SNP disadvantages
science with STRs and SNPs.
For a number of years, largely due to technology pro- Several significant disadvantages exist with SNP markers
gress coming from the Human Genome and International when considered as a possible replacement for currently
HapMap Projects [5], the primary potential replacement for used STR loci with the top two being the number of loci
STRs has usually been proposed to be SNPs, which are needed and the inability to easily decipher mixtures. First,
sequence variants that occur on average every several because SNPs are not as polymorphic as STRs, more SNPs
hundred bases throughout the human genome [6]. Abun- are required to reach equivalent powers of discrimination
dant SNP loci have been characterized and studied in or random match probabilities. Numbers on the order of
various human populations [7]. 40–60 SNPs have been suggested in order to approximate
Most articles to date discussing the potential applica- the power of 13–15 STR loci as are commonly in use today
tions of SNPs in forensic DNA testing have focused on [10, 12, 19].
technology reviews [8, 9] or the number of markers needed Remember that 15 STRs can be routinely amplified
to generate equivalent powers of discrimination in single simultaneously in a single multiplex amplification reaction
source samples [10–12]. Recently work with improving the from minimal amounts (e.g., 500 pg) of DNA template
level of multiplex amplification has been addressed [13, using commercially available kits such as PowerPlex 16
14], as has the selection of optimal SNP loci for use in and Identifiler. While multiplex PCR amplification of such
forensic panels [15]. However, direct comparisons between a large number of SNPs (e.g., *50) has only recently been
SNPs and STRs suggest that SNPs are not ready to replace demonstrated in a research setting [14], routine production
STRs as the workhorse of forensic DNA identification and commercialization of robust assays containing upwards
markers. of 100 oligonucleotide PCR primers will not be trivial.
Likewise, the expense of examining more loci will be
higher.
Potential SNP advantages Perhaps more importantly data interpretation becomes
increasingly difficult with more loci and amplification
The primary reason provided for considering SNPs with products. Issues with locus drop out will become more
forensic applications centers around the fact that a higher significant when three to five times more loci are involved
recovery of information from degraded DNA samples is in comparison to traditional STR typing. In addition, assays
theoretically possible since a smaller target region is nee- with a larger number of loci are more sensitive to the
ded. Only a single nucleotide needs to be measured with quantity and integrity of the input DNA template particu-
SNP markers instead of an array of nucleotides—some- larly when trying to amplify limited DNA materials.
times hundreds of nucleotides in length—as with STRs Current SNP typing for use in HapMap population
(Fig. 1). While this argument has been made for many studies (e.g., 7) or other clinical genetics projects involve
years, a recent direct comparison for SNPs and STRs found attempting to type many thousands of SNP loci in a rela-
that STR markers, when shortened to miniSTRs, perform tively small number of samples. If a few dozen or even
quite well on degraded DNA material [13]. A wide variety hundreds of loci fail to produce a result on a sample, these
of STR loci exist, and ones with moderate allele ranges and data are excluded from the final analysis or further attempts
small amplicon sizes can work effectively with compro- are made using a replenishable supply of DNA. This type
mised DNA samples. Primer redesign to create smaller of data loss when attempting to perform a direct compar-
amplicons with core STR loci [16] and a number of new ison between a suspect and evidence is undesirable or even
STR loci [17] has been described recently. unacceptable under the current paradigm of sample
Another advantage of SNPs is that they possess muta- matching performed with STR typing on only a dozen or so
tion rates approximately 100 thousand times lower than loci. Will investigators or the courts care that a fraction of
STRs (10–8 vs. 10–3). Thus, theoretically SNPs, being more the SNP loci attempted failed to produce a result? With
stable in terms of inheritance, could aid parentage testing in limited amounts of starting material in many situations,
some cases or kinship analysis such as is performed with there may not be opportunities to repeat the testing in an
identifying mass disaster victims [18]. However, Amorim effort to recover the lost loci. Furthermore, the loci missing
and Pereira [19] note some unexpected drawbacks of using on reference samples may be different from those that
SNPs in forensic kinship investigations based on simula- failed on the evidentiary material leaving even less of an
tions. They predicted that a battery of 45 SNPs would overlap of successfully typed loci for comparison purposes.
produce a higher frequency of cases where statistical evi- When attempting to analyze a greater number of genetic
dence would be inconclusive when applied to routine loci, there will be an increased complexity of data to be
paternity investigations [19]. examined. Depending on the SNP detection platform, the202 Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2007) 3:200–205
Fig. 1 Comparison of (A) (Biallelic)
STRs and (B) SNPs in terms of Conventional STR SNP
the number of possible allele miniSTR
combinations and relative size C
of the target region 7 repeats
8 repeats T
9 repeats
10 repeats
11 repeats
12 repeats
Target region
(single nucleotide
13 repeats polymorphism)
Target region
(short tandem repeat) Alleles Genotypes
(3 possible genotypes)
C CC
T TT
CT
Alleles Genotypes
(28 possible genotypes)
7 7,7
8 7,8 8,8
9 7,9 8,9 9,9
10 7,10 8,10 9,10 10,10
11 7,11 8,11 9,11 10,11 11,11
12 7,12 8,12 9,12 10,12 11,12 12,12
13 7,13 8,13 9,13 10,13 11,13 12,13 13,13
data to be interpreted will vary. With so many loci being exist for SNP typing [8, 9, 21, 22]. The various chemistries
typed, software interpretation will become more reliant on involved are far from being standardized. Without con-
expert computer systems as the primary form of data sensus throughout the community on the SNP markers to
analysis. More loci mean more peak signals and the be employed or the detection platform(s) to be utilized,
potential for more artifacts. Thus, detailed data analysis SNP typing cannot gain a foothold over the dominance of
will become more tedious and practically impossible the widely used STR typing systems.
without validated expert systems. Although the argument
has been made that data interpretation will be easier with
SNPs because they do not possess stutter products or Likely future role of SNPs
microvariants, in a certain sense these biological amplifi-
cation artifacts provide greater confidence in results—i.e., However, SNPs may play a useful role in niche applica-
that a measured peak with a stutter product is truly an STR tions such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y-SNPs,
allele rather than a spike or a fluorescent dye artifact. ancestry informative markers (AIMs), predicting pheno-
However, from our point of view, the most significant typic traits, and other potential forensic case work
disadvantage of SNP typing is that the limited number of applications. Coding region SNPs can fulfill a useful role
alleles (typically two) for each SNP locus limits or prevents for separating common HV1/HV2 mitochondrial DNA
reliable mixture interpretation. A major advantage with types [23, 24], and assays have been developed to reliably
STRs in a forensic setting is that many possible alleles exist examine mtDNA coding region SNP variation [25, 26].
providing the possibility that the multiple contributors to a While Y-SNPs have limited utility for individualizing a
mixture will have distinguishable (non-overlapping) sample, they may, depending on the population(s) of
alleles. Figure 2 shows SNP and STR typing data obtained interest, be helpful in aiding estimations of ethnic origin
on the same mixed DNA sample. While the STR results [27, 28].
clearly suggest more than one contributor based on the Predicting ancestry [29, 30] or phenotypic characteris-
number of alleles present at multiple loci, an analyst would tics, such as red hair color [31] or eye color [32], is another
find it difficult to determine that a mixture is present based role that SNPs may play in the future where the amount of
on the six SNP loci shown. sample is not limited. In these cases, SNP typing could help
Another challenge preventing routine application of provide investigators with information about a perpetrator
SNPs today is that multiple possible detection platforms based solely on the biological evidence left at the crimeForensic Sci Med Pathol (2007) 3:200–205 203
Fig. 2 Mixture detection on the (A) SNP typing results
same samples with (A) SNPs
SNP SNP SNP SNP SNP SNP
and (B) STRs. The top panel in Locus 1 Locus 2 Locus 3 Locus 4 Locus 5 Locus 6
each section contains a mixture
possessing as one of its
Mixture TT
components the same DNA that CC
is shown as a single source in C T CT
the bottom panel. Six different T C T
C
SNP loci (from a total of 70
SNPs evaluated; see [20]) are CC
TT Single Source TT T
shown in (A). Note that only CC
C
SNP locus 2 in the top panel of
C T
(A) has an allele imbalance
suggesting that a possible
second contributor is present.
On the other hand in the top
panel of (B), all 5 STR loci (B) STR typing results
shown from the green dye
channel of the Identifiler kit Mixture
contain three alleles making
mixture detection much easier
Single Source
scene. Research in these areas is on-going and not yet platform/chemistry for SNPs that is robust enough for
ready for routine use. Thus, it is important to stress that forensic use (at least as good as STRs) has not been fully
while we do not think autosomal SNPs will replace auto- developed.
somal STRs anytime soon, the utility of various SNP
assays should still be evaluated.
It will be valuable to understand which SNP markers Summary
may be useful when/if the technology platforms catch up to
the level acceptable for forensic usage. Since SNP markers The overall points made in this article are summed up in
are abundant, a larger pool of potential markers is available Table 1. While automation of SNP detection has improved
for testing. The majority of SNPs are bi-allelic so a search significantly in recent years enabling millions of SNPs to be
for ‘most informative’ loci is not required (conversely a examined on hundreds of samples in a relatively short period
useful STR should have multiple well-populated allelic of time (e.g., 7), due to the large number of loci that must be
states). For human identification purposes, loci with low co-amplified and the inability to easily decipher mixtures, we
FST values and a heterozygosity of [40% are generally do not feel that SNPs stand on the horizon as future markers
adequate for forensic usage [15]. The abundance of SNPs (i.e., replacing STRs) for widespread use in forensic DNA
means that ‘poor’ markers can be thrown out since the testing. That being said, there are and will likely be important
information content is essentially equivalent between loci
(this would be done in the initial selection phase of a SNP
panel). Table 1 A simple summary comparing the characteristics of STRs
It is important to keep in mind that an infrastructure and SNPs
exists that supports STR typing. Databases with core STR Characteristics STRs/miniSTRs SNPs
loci contain millions of profiles and are still being popu-
Success with degraded DNA + +
lated. More than 10 years of expertise in STR typing is
Power of discrimination (without + –
present in many forensic laboratories. A question that significant multiplexing)
should be asked is, ‘‘Is it worth the time and cost to convert
Mixture detection/interpretation + –
over to a new marker/technology?’’ The main proposed
Other applications:
benefits of SNPs are the potential for use on degraded
Ethnicity estimation, physical traits, etc. – +
samples and possible rapid—high throughout analysis.
Commercial testing kits available + –
However, it appears that miniSTRs complete well in the
Consistent platform/assay for analysis + –
arena of degraded samples [13], and a high throughput204 Forensic Sci Med Pathol (2007) 3:200–205
niche roles for SNP typing. We agree with Gill et al. [33] that development of new DNA typing systems. Electrophoresis
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11. Krawczak M. Informativity assessment for biallelic single
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Educational message Coble MD, Parson W, Berger B, Grubwieser P, Mogensen HS,
Morling N, Nielsen K, Sanchez JJ, Petkovski E, Carracedo A,
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Stradmann-Bellinghausen B, Bender K, Gill P. Analysis of arti-
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