Case report: DNA identification of burned skeletal remains

Zgonjanin, Dragana; Petković, Stojan; Maletin, Miljen; Vuković, Radenko; Drašković, Dragan

doi:10.1016/j.fsigss.2015.09.176

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, Zgonjanin et al. [ 44 ] report modifications to their DNA extraction protocol that have allowed them to successfully generate DNA profiles from burned bodies. Since heat is generally viewed as accelerating DNA damage, other studies have looked at removing all steps that generate heat from the skeletal DNA purification process by making modifications to the grinding process.…”

Section: Skeletal Dna Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA recovery and analysis from skeletal material in modern forensic contexts

Latham

Miller

2018

Forensic Sciences Research

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The generation of a DNA profile from skeletal remains is an important part of the identification process in both mass disaster and unidentified person cases. Since bones and teeth are often the only biological materials remaining after exposure to environmental conditions, intense heat, certain traumatic events and in cases where a significant amount of time has passed since the death of the individual, the ability to purify large quantities of informative DNA from these hard tissues would be beneficial. Since sampling the hard tissues for genetic analysis is a destructive process, it is important to understand those environmental and intrinsic factors that contribute to DNA preservation. This will serve as a brief introduction to these topics, since skeletal sampling strategies and molecular taphonomy have been discussed in depth elsewhere. Additionally advances in skeletal DNA extraction and analysis will be discussed. Currently there is great variation in the DNA isolation methods used by laboratories to purify DNA from the hard tissues; however, a standardized set of short tandem repeat (STR) loci is analyzed by many US laboratories to allow for comparisons across samples and jurisdictions. Recent advances have allowed for the generation of DNA profiles from smaller quantities of template DNA and have expanded the number of loci analyzed for greater discriminatory power and predictions regarding the geographic ancestry and phenotype of the individual. Finally, utilizing databases and expanding the number of comparison samples will be discussed in light of their role in the identification process.

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Section: Skeletal Dna Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA recovery and analysis from skeletal material in modern forensic contexts

Latham

Miller

2018

Forensic Sciences Research

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“…In scenarios involving fire when only the skeleton remains it is difficult to use the conventional methods during the forensic examination which involve facial recognition, fingerprint and DNA analysis (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

Section: Burned Bones: What Is the Problem?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Burned bones tell their own stories: A review of methodological approaches to assess heat-induced diagenesis

Mamede

Gonçalves

Marques

et al. 2017

Applied Spectroscopy Reviews

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One of the biggest struggles of biological anthropology is to estimate the biological profile from burned human skeletal remains. Bioanthropological methods are seriously compromised due to bone heat-induced alterations in shape and size. Therefore, it is urgent to improve our ability to estimate sex, age at death, stature and ancestrality, to recognize peri mortem traumas and differentiate them from fractures due to fire, and to determine what was the intensity of burning, namely maximum temperature and heat exposure length. This review focuses on different methodologies to assess heat prompted changes in bone submicrostructure. Some of these are extensively used in burned bones research, namely infrared and Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, while others such as neutron spectroscopy and diffraction are rarely applied to bone samples although their contribution may be crucial for establishing new bioanthropological methods for a reliable examination of burned victims.

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“…Total DNA was isolated from bone samples followed two different protocols: phenol chloroform isoamyl alcohol (PCIA) organic extraction method [6] and PrepFiler® BTA Forensic DNA Extraction Kit (Applied Biosystems) [7]. Modifications to both extraction methods have been introduced in order to improve our laboratory success rate with identification of these skeletal remains [6,7].…”

Section: Samples and Dna Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study evaluated the sensitivity and performance of the GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification and Investigator® 24plex QS kits with 20 bone samples of skeletal remains from routine casework in our laboratory, each with different age and environmental exposure [6,7]. The two kits being tested are both 6-dye multiplex kits each with 24 markers, including the mini-STR loci with amplicon size falling below 220 bps, which was designed to maximize performance on degraded samples and robust PCR buffer can tolerate certain levels of PCR inhibitors that may be present in DNA extracts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA typing from skeletal remains using GlobalFiler™ PCR amplification and Investigator® 24plex QS kits

Zgonjanin

Nedić

Alghafri

et al. 2019

Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series

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Since the beginning of our work in 2003 our laboratory has focused exclusively on STR DNA from bone, a powerful tool in missing person cases. In cases such as mass disasters or missing persons, human remains are challenging to identify as they may be fragmented, burnt, recovered from water, degraded, and/or contain inhibitory substances. To address these challenges, this study has evaluated the performance of relatively new STR kits Investigator® 24plex QS kit (Qiagen) and GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific) by comparing it with current uses of the AmpFLSTR® Identifiler® Plus kit (Applied Biosystems) to obtain genetic information from skeletal remains. We analyzed 20 bone samples of skeletal remains from routine casework submitted for body identifications by law enforcement corresponding using Investigator® 24plex QS kit and GlobalFiler™ PCR Amplification kit, previously analysed AmpFLSTR® Identifiler® Plus kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The data indicates that the STR profiles obtained using the GlobalFiler™ and Investigator® 24plex QS kit for analysis of skeletal remains has shown results in an increased number of reportable genetic loci, and provide greater power of discrimination in comparison to the Identifiler® Plus Kit. Advanced extraction and purification techniques, together with more sensitive and robust new amplification kits allowed us to overcome the challenges associated with processing compromised skeletal remains and ultimately obtain full STR DNA profiles in 99% of the bones.

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Case report: DNA identification of burned skeletal remains

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

DNA recovery and analysis from skeletal material in modern forensic contexts

DNA recovery and analysis from skeletal material in modern forensic contexts

Burned bones tell their own stories: A review of methodological approaches to assess heat-induced diagenesis

DNA typing from skeletal remains using GlobalFiler™ PCR amplification and Investigator® 24plex QS kits

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