Possible Application of Cytochrome b Gene for Human Identification

The mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb) has been partially amplified and sequenced in order to identify the characteristic SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism) for some Saudi Arabian tribes. Approximately 1 kbp from this gene has been sequenced and aligned with the same fragment of the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS). The polymorphic sites and the haplotypes of all studied individuals were identified. Commonly, three main SNPs (G15301A, A15326G and T15674C) and 6 haplotypes (H, L, JT, U5a, R, J) were found. Most of the recorded SNPs and haplotypes were tribe dependant. Therefore, cytb gene could be considered as a powerful forensic marker; however, more samples must be analyzed to investigate the unique distribution for forensic applications.