A new chemical test developed in Pennsylvania and reported by bloodhorse.com from Forensic Science International: Genetics, the scientific journal
that published the report in its April issue, is likely to tighten the oft-disputed chain of custody in movement of blood and urine samples.
The new test, the report says, “has high power of discrimination and reproducibility with high accuracy and precision, and is the first in the horse racing industry specifically designed for racehorse identification and detection of equine sample contamination by human DNA.”
The test, called 24-plex STR for short tandem repeats, utilizes pieces of genetic material which are amplified and analyzed to confirm or exclude a single blood or urine sample being from the host horse tested. It was developed after work with 171 trotters and pacers and 90 thoroughbreds, with the chance of extremely few false identifications.
(HTA)