What are multi-copy markers?
A primer pair will usually locate only one specific region on the DNA strand. A multi-copy marker occurs when a primer pair locates more than one region. The following are examples of multi-copy markers:- DYS385a, DYS385b DYS464a, DYS464b, DYS464c, DYS464d DYS459a, DYS459b YCAIIa, YCAIIb They can be very problematic when making comparisons between two people. For example, DYS464c in one person may not be the same DYS464c in another person. Because of these potential problems, our old panel only included DYS385a and DYS385b. The new 43 marker panel now includes all of the above multi-copy markers and customers are advised to interpret them with caution. This still leaves 33 single-copy markers with which to compare directly, and additional multi-copy markers to those that wanted them.
