ABI 3130xl Upgrade Evaluation

Participants: Carolyn R. "Becky" Hill, Amy E. Decker, Peter M. Vallone, Margaret C. Kline, and John M. Butler

Project Timeframe: September 2005 to May 2006

Purpose: To compare performance of new ABI 3130xl (Data Collection 3.0) with our original ABI 3100 (Data Collection 1.0.1).

Progress: Multiple 96-well plates of STR, SNP, and DNA sequencing products were run on both our upgraded ABI 3130xl and a separate ABI 3100. Relative sensitivity, resolution, and precision were compared along with the genotyping accuracy with STR typing assays as determined by concordance of genotypes obtained. The ABI 3130xl was run with POP-4, POP-6, and POP-7 polymers. The mechanical pump (pictured) worked fine in place of the dual syringes used in the ABI 3100 to deliver polymer to the capillary array. We observed fully concordant allele calls between our original 3100 and 3130xl upgrade. We noted that the 3130xl is more time efficient when changing polymer. We experienced lower sensitivity using the same injection parameters with the 3130xl as compared to the 3100 and therefore recommend that injections be optimized based on empirical data for each instrument.

Publications or Presentations Resulting From This Project:

Becky Hill presentation at the Applied Biosystem's HID University/Future Trends in Forensic DNA Technology seminar series (Washington, DC), May 16, 2006, "ABI 3130xl Upgrade Validation Experiments Performed at NIST" [.pdf]

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Last updated: 06/19/2007

Disclaimer: This project was supported by National Institute of Justice Grant Number 2003-IJ-R-029, which is an interagency agreement between NIJ and the NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice. Certain commercial equipment, instruments and materials are identified in order to specify experimental procedures as completely as possible.  In no case does such identification imply a recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology nor does it imply that any of the materials, instruments or equipment identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.