Rapid detection of ancient human mitochondrial DNA variation using tetra-primer PCR amplification

Several methods have been used to diagnose the haplogroups in the maternal lineages of human remains. However, most techniques cannot be used to detect both the SNPs and the contamination. In this study, the tetra-primer PCR amplification method is used to type a number of coding-region mtDNA polymorphisms: G (4833), M9 (3394), and M10 (10 646). Results show that the tetra-primer PCR can rapidly identify mitochondrial DNA haplogroups in ancient human remains, and the result of amplification can be detected just by using agarose gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, this method can detect the existence of contamination under certain conditions.