Description
Rapidly Process Challenging Skeletal Remains
In certain cases involving missing persons, mass disasters and anthropological excavations, bone and teeth are often the only sample types available for identification. Further, these samples are often subjected to environmental damage, and co-extraction of environmental inhibitors during purification limits their usability in STR typing experiments. Purification of DNA free of inhibitors is a crucial first step for obtaining a usable profile from these samples.
A short preprocessing protocol followed by purification of DNA using DNA IQ™ chemistry yields inhibitor-free DNA compatible with PowerQuant® or Plexor® HY Systems for human and male DNA quantification. This DNA can be used with the PowerPlex® STR Systems to generate an STR profile.
The article A Rapid and Efficient Method for DNA Extraction from Bone Powder demonstrates the use of Demineralization Buffer and subsequent purification of DNA using the Maxwell® FSC System with aged bone samples.
Extraction of DNA from challenging bone samples. Femur bone samples dated from 1939–1945 (World War II) and 1870–1880 (Deadwood) were used with the Bone DNA Extraction Kit, Custom, followed by purification using DNA IQ™ chemistry on the Maxwell® Instrument. Autosomal DNA concentration, as determined by PowerQuant® System, was plotted as vertical bars. The normalized DNA or maximum template amount was used for amplification using the PowerPlex® Fusion System, and the number of alleles detected are shown.
