An amplicon is a piece of DNA formed as the product of natural or artificial amplification events. For example, it can be formed via polymerase chain reactions (PCR) or ligase chain reactions (LCR), as well as by natural gene duplication.
Artificial amplification can be used to determine sex from a human DNA sample. The loci of Alu element insertion is selected, amplified and evaluated in terms of size of the fragment. The sex assay utilizes AluSTXa for the X chromosome, AluSTYa for the Y chromosome, or both AluSTXa and AluSTYa, to reduce the possibility of error to a negligible quantity. The inserted chromosome yields a large fragment when the homologous region is amplified. The males are distinguished as having two DNA amplicons present, while females have only a single amplicon. The kit adapted for carrying out the method includes a pair of primers to amplify the locus and optionally polymerase chain reaction reagents.
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