Question

Amelogenin locus is used for gender identification. Why?

Answer 1

Amelogenin is a group of closely related protein involved in enamel development, a process known as amelogenesis. A single copy of amelogenin gene is located on both X and Y chromosomes at Xp22.1-Xp22.3 and Yp11.2 locus. Amelogenin gene is present in non-recombining region of Y chromosome.The gene exists in different versions on X and Y chromosomes. Intron 1 of amelogenin gene has a 6 bp deletion in X chromosome while there is no deletion in intron 1 in amelogenin gene version present on Y chromosome.This difference in amelogenin locus on X and Y chromosomes helps in gender identification of unknown human samples. Gel electrophoresis resulting in two bands of DNA at 555 bp and 371 bp indicates both X and Y version of amelogenin gene thus confirming the gender to be male whereas only one band of DNA at 555 bp indicates only X version of amelogenin gene thus confirming the gender to be female.