Promega Launches Paradyme™ 27GY STR System, Minimizing Stutter Artifacts in Forensic DNA Analysis

Promega Corporation has launched Paradyme™ 27GY STR System, the first commercially available short tandem repeat (STR) analysis kit to include the company’s Reduced-Stutter Polymerase (RSP). This novel enzyme, engineered by Promega, significantly reduces the most common type of confounding artifact in forensic DNA analysis. The result is an 8-fold reduction in stutter signal intensity, producing clearer electropherograms, improving confidence in number-of-contributors (NoC) determination, and enhancing detection of minor contributors in mixed samples. Ultimately, this leads to faster mixture interpretation with higher confidence and the ability to interpret more complex mixtures, helping labs solve more cases and reduce backlogs.

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“This is the first forensic STR analysis kit to virtually eliminate stutter at its source,” says Tim Kupferschmid, Sr. Director of Genetic Identity, Promega Corporation. “By simplifying mixture deconvolution, Paradyme™ 27GY STR System will fundamentally change what analysts can deliver to investigators.”

The kit is designed for use with Spectrum CE System and Spectrum Compact CE System. Promega is the first manufacturer to develop and launch a capillary electrophoresis instrument capable of 8-dye STR analysis.

Reduced Stutter in Forensic DNA Analysis

Stutter has been a major challenge of forensic DNA analysis for decades. When DNA is amplified using Taq polymerase, the enzyme occasionally slips across repeated sequences, resulting in a new fragment that is shorter than the original. When the sample is analyzed by capillary electrophoresis, the resulting electropherogram will show an extra peak that is one repeat shorter, and sometimes one repeat longer, than the true peak. These extra peaks create challenges for analysis when a sample potentially contains DNA from multiple contributors. It is difficult to determine whether a peak represents stutter or an allele from a minor contributor.

The enzyme included in Paradyme™ 27GY STR System is engineered to minimize “slippage” during amplification of repetitive DNA sequences common in forensic DNA analysis. The enzyme reduces stutter signal intensity by an average of 8-fold relative to current systems, often rendering it undetectable from instrument baseline noise. This minimizes a significant source of uncertainty in forensic casework. As a result, labs are able to provide conclusive results for complex mixtures, generate more accurate profiles for casework and databases, and decrease their turnaround time for sample analysis.

Promega first unveiled the novel engineered enzyme at the International Symposium on Human Identification in 2024.

Advantages of Paradyme™ 27GY STR System

Paradyme™ 27GY STR System is an 8-dye multiplex that includes 23 autosomal STR loci, Amelogenin and key Y-STR loci, supporting CODIS core loci requirements and the expanded CODIS framework used by crime laboratories in the United States and internationally.

System benefits include:

• Average of 8-fold reduction in stutter signal intensity, producing clearer profiles at amplification
• Fewer data edits, reducing time spent on analysis
• Reduced stutter and Y-STR loci improve NoC determination accuracy
• Higher interpretation confidence with more complex mixtures, reducing analyst fatigue and secondary technical review effort
• Increased minor contributor detection in mixtures
• More loci amplified from degraded samples using shortened-amplicon 8-dye multiplex
• Quality Indicator peaks that support more informed assessment of amplification success and sample quality troubleshooting

Promega offers extensive support to forensic organizations interested in adopting Paradyme™ 27GY STR System. Laboratories can contact a local Promega representative about in-house evaluation and comparison against current chemistry. For implementation support, Promega offers forensic experts to support on-site optimization, customized validation, and hands-on training for chemistry and instrumentation with over 200 forensic customer validation projects completed globally.

For more information about Paradyme™ 27GY STR System, visit www.promega.com/ParadymePR.

About Promega Corporation

Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry. The company’s portfolio of over 4,000 products supports a range of life science work across areas such as cell biology; DNA, RNA and protein analysis; drug development; human identification and molecular diagnostics. These tools and technologies have grown in their application over the last 45 years and are used today by scientists and technicians in labs for academic and government research, forensics, pharmaceuticals, clinical diagnostics and veterinary, agricultural and environmental testing. Promega is headquartered in Madison, WI, USA with branches in 16 countries and over 50 global distributors. Learn more at promega.com.

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