Standardisation of nomenclature for dog mtDNA D-loop: a prerequisite for launching a Canis familiaris database

Domestic dogs are increasingly involved, often as protagonists, in the forensic scene. Acknowledging this fact and benefiting from the accumulated experience on human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses, we propose a standard for Canis familiaris mtDNA sequences as a prerequisite for the launching of the corresponding database.This work was partially supported by a research grant to LP (SFRH/BPD/7121/2001) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and IPATIMUP by Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (POCTI), Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III. This study is included in the Project “GENCERT”, financed by POCTI Medida 2.3 and POSI Medida 1.3 (PO-QCA III)