Mitochondrial genome has particular features that make it a valuable forensic marker; first of all it is present in each somatic cell in high numbers. Therefore, it is more resistant to degradation and more stable under unfavorable conditions than nuclear DNA (nDNA) in highly damaged, degraded or very small quantity of the samples. Secondly, the high mutation rate, lack of recombination and the maternal mode of inheritance are features which make the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) better choice in situations where nDNA cannot be used for the analysis. Thus, forensic Anthropologists can determine how mitochondrial DNA may be best utilized in skeletal remains or hair shafts, which essentially lack nDNA but contain sufficient amounts of mtDNA. The most extensive mtDNA variations between individuals are found within the Control region or hypervariable regions (HVI, HVII, and HVIII) which allowed individuals to be differentiated and it could provide evidence about the identity of crime victims, especially skeletal remains. In this article we review the feature of mtDNA and its role as a reliable tool in Forensic Anthropology.

Introduction: Teeth measurement assist in the forensic and anthropological investigation to estimate age, confirm sex and race of a person. Maximum resistance to change in a natural disaster and also the most level of sexual dimorphism in canines makes them important in mentioned fields. Materials and Methods: During this study, an effort has been created to determine the sex of a person by using Canine Index (CI) which calculated for mandibular and maxillary canines. Mesio-distal (MD) breadth of canines and also the respective inter-canine distances (ICD) were tested using the independent samples t-test revealed significant sex dimorphism among the 100 individuals (50 males and 50 females) of Iranian population in the age group of 18-35 years. Conclusion: It is evident from our study that the maxillary canine index (MaxCI) is a valuable tool for determining sex.

We have studied the variability of the CA repeats in HVIII region of mitochondrial DNA among 60 unrelated Muslims of Srirangapatna town, Karnataka state in South India. MtDNA HVIII region was amplified and sequenced by Sanger sequencing method. A total of four alleles [(CA) 4 to (CA) 7 ] were detected and (CA) 5 rCRS repeat was the most frequently defined repeat followed by (CA) 4 28%, (CA) 6 16%, (CA) 7 15%. A statistical estimate indicated a high genetic diversity of 0.7218 and a low random mach probability of 0.2903, and the discrimination power calculated was 0.7097. Compared with those obtained in other explored world populations our data support the significance application of HVIII CA repeat polymorphism of mitochondrial DNA in the genetic differentiation of human populations and forensic investigation casework.

No abstract