Short tandem repeat typing of bodies from a mass disaster: high success rate and characteristic amplification patterns in highly degraded samples

We have used a PCR-based DNA-typing method, involving the coamplification of four tetrameric short tandem repeat loci, in the analysis of a large number of severely degraded tissue samples taken from the scene of a mass disaster in which bodies were exposed to extreme thermal, physical and chemical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	BioTechniques Vol. 18; no. 4; p. 670
Main Authors:	Whitaker, J P, Clayton, T M, Urquhart, A J, Millican, E S, Downes, T J, Kimpton, C P, Gill, P
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England 01-04-1995
Subjects:	Alleles Bone and Bones - chemistry Bone Marrow - chemistry Disasters DNA - analysis Forensic Medicine - methods Gene Amplification - physiology Humans Molecular Weight Nucleic Acid Denaturation - genetics Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics Sex Determination Analysis
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Summary:	We have used a PCR-based DNA-typing method, involving the coamplification of four tetrameric short tandem repeat loci, in the analysis of a large number of severely degraded tissue samples taken from the scene of a mass disaster in which bodies were exposed to extreme thermal, physical and chemical insult. Analysis of the amplified DNA in a number of the samples revealed uniquely sized artifact PCR products resulting from the amplification of degraded genomic DNA as well as characteristic patterns in the amounts of PCR products generated from differently sized loci. This system has proved to be very reliable and robust, and we were successful in typing all of the four loci in 66% of the samples tested and at least one locus in 83% of the cases. A PCR-based sex test also proved to be very effective when applied to the degraded samples.
ISSN:	0736-6205