An assessment of DNA extraction methods from blood-stained soil in forensic science
File version
Author(s)
Drummond, B
Wasef, S
Matheson, CD
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract
In forensic crime scene investigations, biological fluids such as blood are commonly found in soil. However, the analysis of blood-stained soil can be challenging due to the presence of inhibitors which limit the effective extraction and amplification of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) required to produce a reportable DNA profile. There are some extraction methods that have been applied to blood-stained soil in forensic science, but these have produced sporadic results. This research has taken a number of different extraction methods from the fields of ancient DNA and environmental DNA and broken them down into the individual steps of pre-treatment, incubation, separation and purification. These steps were assessed independently then combined into various extraction methods to determine the best technique that can effectively and reliably profile human DNA from blood-stained soil. Testing involved assessment of three extraction buffers, (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, guanidine thiocyanate, and proteinase K), four pre-treatment methods, (polyvinylpyrrolidone, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide), three separation steps, (centrifugation, phenol chloroform, and chloroform) and four purification steps, (size exclusion chromatography, bind elute columns, isopropanol precipitation and silica magnetic beads). The most effective procedure was found to be a polyvinylpyrrolidone pre-treatment with a proteinase K extraction buffer followed by magnetic silica bead purification with or without centrifugation. However, centrifugation separation was found to be equally effective after the pre-treatment step as after the incubation step. Our results shows that most of the current forensic procedures would benefit from the addition of a pre-treatment step prior to processing through the automated DNA profiling pipeline.
Journal Title
Forensic Science International
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
341
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Forensic science and management
DNA extraction
Blood-stained soil
pre-treatment
humic acids
Inhibition
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Howarth, A; Drummond, B; Wasef, S; Matheson, CD, An assessment of DNA extraction methods from blood-stained soil in forensic science, Forensic Science International, 2022, 341, pp. 111502