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Genetic individualization of Cannabis sativa by a short tandem repeat multiplex system

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Abstract

Cannabis sativa is the most frequently used of all illicit drugs in the USA. Cannabis has been used throughout history for its stems in the production of hemp fiber, seed for oil and food, and buds and leaves as a psychoactive drug. Short tandem repeats (STRs) were chosen as molecular markers owing to their distinct advantages over other genetic methods. STRs are codominant, can be standardized such that reproducibility between laboratories can be easily achieved, have a high discrimination power, and can be multiplexed. In this study, six STR markers previously described for C. sativa were multiplexed into one reaction. The multiplex reaction was able to individualize 98 cannabis samples (14 hemp and 84 marijuana, authenticated as originating from 33 of the 50 states of the USA) and detect 29 alleles averaging 4.8 alleles per loci. The data did not relate the samples from the same state to each other. This is the first study to report a single-reaction sixplex and apply it to the analysis of almost 100 cannabis samples of known geographic origin.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the University of Mississippi, National Center for Natural Product Research with special thanks to Zlatko Mehmadic and Tariq Mahmood of the Alberta Research Council in Alberta, Canada, for the donation of the hemp DNA. The Forensic DNA Profiling Facility at Florida International University and Bruce McCord are also acknowledged. The Kauffman Foundation, the Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS RISE), and National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) are also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and International Forensic Research Institute, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Maria A. Mendoza & Jose R. Almirall

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and International Forensic Research Institute, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    DeEtta K. Mills

  3. National Center for Natural Product Research, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, Mississippi, MS, 38677, USA

    Hemant Lata, Suman Chandra & Mahmoud A. ElSohly

  4. Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, Mississippi, MS, 38677, USA

    Mahmoud A. ElSohly

Authors
  1. Maria A. Mendoza
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  2. DeEtta K. Mills
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  3. Hemant Lata
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  4. Suman Chandra
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  5. Mahmoud A. ElSohly
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  6. Jose R. Almirall
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Correspondence to Jose R. Almirall.

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Mendoza, M.A., Mills, D.K., Lata, H. et al. Genetic individualization of Cannabis sativa by a short tandem repeat multiplex system. Anal Bioanal Chem 393, 719–726 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-008-2500-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-008-2500-3

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