DNA Link Between Accused Using Mitochondrial DNA Testing
Firstly, when I read this article regarding a Mongolian murder trial in Malaysia that caught worldwide attention which involves local political analysts named Abdul Razak Baginda who is charged with abetting the accused murderer – a Special Action Squad Member named Corporal Sirul Azhar.
In the beginning, I don’t really get the reason of testing the political analyst’s and the accused murderer’s mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) to determine the maternal lineage which is able to identify the link between accused.
Since both of the accused are male, I strongly suggest that the chemist J. Primulapathi should be considering using Y-chromosome DNA testing in order to determine the paternal lineage since Y-chromosome has low mutation rate.