NCJ Number
198166
Journal
Indian Police Journal Volume: 47 Issue: 4 Dated: October-December 2000 Pages: 106-112
Date Published
October 2000
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article presents technical details of the exhumation of a body that had been buried for 27 years.
Abstract
A body was exhumed from the ground after 27 years. Samples of the femur bone, a tooth, and a fingernail were collected and successfully subjected to DNA extraction, quantitation, amplification, and subsequently typed for DQA1, polymarker (PM), and nine STR loci. The purpose of the exhumation was to acquire the DNA profile as a standard and compare it with evidentiary samples in a criminal case. The polymerase chain reaction based typing method was used to perform the DNA comparison. These methods included analysis at DQA1 and short tandem repeat (STR) loci. The polymorphic nature of these loci makes them a powerful tool of analysis for forensic casework samples. Trimeric and tetrameric repeats in short tandem repeat loci are found throughout the human genome. Due to the overall short repeat length of the repetitive region it has been possible to amplify these regions. This characteristic has made degraded DNA samples amenable to Short Tandem Repeat typing. Experimenters were able to type samples for 16 loci without any difficulty. It is clear from this study that samples as old as these, or even older, could be typed reliably for Short Tandem Repeats, DQA1, and PM. Figures, tables, references