Massively Parallel Sequencing of Forensic STR s Using the Ion Chef™ and the Ion S5™ XL Systems ,

Next‐generation sequencing ( NGS ) has been used to genotype forensic short tandem repeat ( STR ) markers for individual identification and kinship analysis. STR data from several NGS platforms have been published, but forensic application trials using the Ion S5™ XL system have not been reported. In this work, we report sensitivity, reproducibility, mixture, simulated degradation, and casework sample data on the Ion Chef™ and S5™ XL systems using an early access 25‐plex panel. Sensitivity experiments showed that over 97% of the alleles were detectable with down to 62 pg input of genomic DNA . In mixture studies, alleles from minor contributors were correctly assigned at 1:9 and 9:1 ratios. NGS successfully gave 12 full genotype results from 13 challenging casework samples, compared with five full results using the CE platform. In conclusion, the Ion Chef™ and the Ion S5™ XL systems provided an alternative and promising approach for forensic STR genotyping.