Low-level signal interference between samples separated on the 3500xL capillary electrophoresis platform.

A new phenomenon was detected using the Applied Biosystems 3500xL Genetic Analyzer. This phenomenon is characterised by a strong sample in an injection imparting low-level peaks to negative control samples positioned anywhere within the same injection. The affected negative controls did not display these peaks when processed in the absence of the strong sample. This phenomenon, hereafter described as ‘signal interference’, has been demonstrated to be an extension of the widely accepted capillary electrophoresis anomaly known as ‘crosstalk’. Signal interference has been observed in casework profile analysis and the potential implications for casework are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]