STR Profile
Definition
Short tandem repeat profile: the numerical representation of repeated DNA sequences at a defined set of loci, used to generate a forensic match statistic. Profiles contain no information about physical traits or health from the loci used forensically.
- Marker type
- Short tandem repeat
- Output
- Numerical repeat counts per locus
- Phenotype data
- None from forensic loci
- Use
- Identity comparison and database search
Common questions
Why can't an STR profile reveal appearance or health?+
The loci chosen for forensic panels sit in non-coding regions selected for variability, not for linkage to genes controlling traits or disease, so the profile carries no phenotype information even though it reliably distinguishes individuals.
How is a match statistic generated from the profile?+
Allele frequencies at each locus, drawn from population databases, are combined across the profile's loci to calculate the random match probability, the figure quoted in court as the statistical weight of a comparison.
Related terms
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)
- India's current evidence statute, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872. Section 63 of the BSA governs electronic records and requires a...
- CODIS
- The FBI's Combined DNA Index System, the US national STR-based forensic DNA database. Contains profiles from convicted offenders, arrestees, and unidentified crime-scene...
- Cold Hit
- A database match between a crime-scene DNA profile and an offender or arrestee profile where no other investigative lead identified the suspect....
- Familial Searching
- The deliberate use of partial DNA profile matches in a forensic database to identify biological relatives of an unknown contributor, on the...
- Proportionality
- The legal principle, central to European human rights law and to many constitutional systems, that any interference with a fundamental right must...