The document compares the accuracy and efficacy of commercially available STR typing kits from Applied Biosystems and Promega Corporation using various samples. Studies found that while the kits performed reasonably well on low copy number samples, allelic dropout rates were around 7-14% on average. Optimal DNA sample size for profiling was determined to be around 1-2ng. Motherless paternity testing using one kit produced non-definitive results in over half of cases compared to standard trio testing. Degraded DNA samples showed some loci produced more valid results depending on the kit.