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Heß SA, Trapani S, Boronat MDM, Theunissen GMG, Rolf B, Jäger R. Ribosomal DNA as target for the assessment of DNA degradation of human and canine DNA. Leg Med (Tokyo) 2020; 48:101819. [PMID: 33248354 DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2020.101819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 11/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The assessment of DNA amount and DNA integrity can support forensic DNA analysis, in particular of problematic traces such as single telogen hairs where STR typing success is often hampered by low amounts and strong degradation of nuclear DNA. Common strategies consist of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based analysis of the abundance of a short versus a long nuclear amplicon, the latter prone to DNA degradation. To increase sensitivity, commercial qPCR solutions rest on amplification of multi-copy DNA sequences. Here we show that ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences are well suited for the same purpose. Because rDNA sequences are present in high copy number in most eukaryotic species, qPCR strategies can easily be adapted to non-human species. In this paper, we establish qPCR-based assays for human or dog DNA, respectively, which allow for sensitive analysis of DNA amounts and DNA degradation. We show that the human system can be applied to DNA of single telogen hairs, where STR typing success correlates with measured amounts and integrity of the DNA. By adapting the system to dog rDNA sequences we found that single telogen dog hairs often displayed less DNA degradation than human telogen hairs, in most cases allowing for successful STR typing. Thus, qPCR-based analysis of rDNA represents a cost-effective, highly sensitive strategy to assess DNA amount and integrity that can be adapted to hairs or other traces from various animal species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Aurora Heß
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, von-Liebig Str. 20, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany; Institute of Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences, Grantham Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany
| | - Salvatore Trapani
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, von-Liebig Str. 20, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany; Università degli Studi di Palermo, University of Palermo, 90133 Palermo, PA, Italy
| | - Maria Del Mar Boronat
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, von-Liebig Str. 20, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany
| | - Glenn M G Theunissen
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, von-Liebig Str. 20, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany; Institute of Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences, Grantham Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany
| | - Burkhard Rolf
- Eurofins Medigenomix Forensik GmbH, Anzinger Str. 7a, 85560 Ebersberg, Germany
| | - Richard Jäger
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, von-Liebig Str. 20, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany; Institute of Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences, Grantham Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany; Institute for Functional Gene Analytics, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Grantham Allee 20, 53757, Sankt Augustin, Germany.
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Application of hematoxylin reagent for sperm cell separation in sexual crime evidence. Forensic Sci Int 2020; 307:110114. [DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.110114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/08/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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