- J Forensic Sci. 2005 Jan;50(1):43-53 - PubMed
- Int J Legal Med. 2016 Nov;130(6):1471-1480 - PubMed
- J Cosmet Sci. 2003 Jan-Feb;54(1):21-7 - PubMed
- J Forensic Sci. 1993 May;38(3):542-53 - PubMed
- Forensic Sci Int. 1999 Jul 12;103(1):23-35 - PubMed
Historically, rootless hair shaft samples submitted to a forensic laboratory for DNA analysis are reserved for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis due to the presence of highly degraded as well as insufficient amounts of nuclear DNA. Although mtDNA has been very successful in obtaining results from rootless hair, this system has its limitations, namely, it is a lineage marker that cannot differentiate between maternally related genotypes. Given the high incidence of hairs as forensic evidence, there is a need for the use of a nuclear DNA test system capable of producing reliable results for hair shaft forensic evidence. This study reports the utilization of an enhanced DNA extraction methodology for hairs, in combination with a recently developed novel, nuclear DNA typing assay, InnoTyper® 21, to improve the success rate for obtaining informative results from highly compromised, degraded, and trace forensic samples such as rootless hair shafts. The InnoTyper 21 kit is a small amplicon retrotransposon marker typing system compatible with currently used capillary electrophoresis platforms. This system contains 20 Alu element markers, ranging in size from 60 to 125 bp, making the assay highly sensitive for extremely degraded forensic samples and thus enabling recovery of nuclear DNA profiles from samples that would otherwise require mtDNA sequencing. A subset of samples was also tested with the GlobalFiler kit with less success due to the larger amplicon sizes in comparison with InnoTyper 21. Results were variable but very promising, with approximately 40% of the total number of hairs tested producing interpretable nuclear DNA profiles with InnoTyper 21. These results demonstrate the ability of the utilized methodologies to produce nuclear DNA results with high statistical power from rootless hair shafts.
Keywords: DNA extraction; InnoTyper® 21; Nuclear DNA; Rootless hair shafts.
Brown H, Thompson R, Murphy G, Peters D, La Rue B, King J, Montgomery AH, Carroll M, Baus J, Sinha S, Wendt FR, Song B, Chakraborty R, Budowle B, Sinha SK. Brown H, et al. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2017 Jul;29:80-99. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.03.017. Epub 2017 Mar 18. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2017. PMID: 28391141
Martins C, Ferreira PM, Carvalho R, Costa SC, Farinha C, Azevedo L, Amorim A, Oliveira M. Martins C, et al. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2019 Mar;39:61-65. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.12.005. Epub 2018 Dec 17. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2019. PMID: 30578984
Gutierrez R, LaRue B, Houston R. Gutierrez R, et al. J Forensic Sci. 2021 Sep;66(5):1929-1936. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14763. Epub 2021 May 31. J Forensic Sci. 2021. PMID: 34057738
Linch CA, Whiting DA, Holland MM. Linch CA, et al. J Forensic Sci. 2001 Jul;46(4):844-53. J Forensic Sci. 2001. PMID: 11451065 Review.
McNevin D, Wilson-Wilde L, Robertson J, Kyd J, Lennard C. McNevin D, et al. Forensic Sci Int. 2005 Oct 29;153(2-3):237-46. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.05.006. Forensic Sci Int. 2005. PMID: 15985352 Review.
Liu Z, Simayijiang H, Wang Q, Yang J, Sun H, Wu R, Yan J. Liu Z, et al. Int J Legal Med. 2023 May;137(3):613-633. doi: 10.1007/s00414-023-02955-w. Epub 2023 Feb 3. Int J Legal Med. 2023. PMID: 36732435 Review.
Canale LC, McElhoe JA, Dimick G, DeHeer KM, Beckert J, Holland MM. Canale LC, et al. Genes (Basel). 2022 Nov 18;13(11):2144. doi: 10.3390/genes13112144. Genes (Basel). 2022. PMID: 36421819 Free PMC article.
West FL, Algee-Hewitt BFB. West FL, et al. Forensic Sci Int Synerg. 2020 Mar 7;2:114-122. doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2020.03.002. eCollection 2020. Forensic Sci Int Synerg. 2020. PMID: 32412010 Free PMC article.
Brandhagen MD, Loreille O, Irwin JA. Brandhagen MD, et al. Genes (Basel). 2018 Dec 18;9(12):640. doi: 10.3390/genes9120640. Genes (Basel). 2018. PMID: 30567392 Free PMC article.