Abstract
Genetic identification of putrefied bodies is a common task in forensic medicine. With advancing putrefaction, however, DNA integrity is rapidly decreasing and genetic typing of tissue might be impaired or impossible. Since DNA stability is generally higher in hard tissues, bones or teeth are frequently used as DNA source in such cases. However, isolation of DNA from hard tissues is usually very time-consuming and labor-intensive. This can be especially important in (forensic) cases where time is short and identification has to be carried out as fast as possible. Here, we present the identification of dead bodies by analyzing DNA from the auditory ossicles. These minuscule bones provided DNA of sufficient quality and quantity for identification purposes in all 40 investigated cases. Additionally, processing of the bones proved to be amazingly easy and fast, and a successful extraction is possible using a variety of different methods. We present a detailed protocol, results, and cases in which this new method has been successfully applied.
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Compliance with ethical standards
The experiments comply with the current German laws.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Thorsten Schwark holds an M.D. degree.
Jan-Hendrik Modrow holds a Ph.D. degree.
Elena Steinmeier holds an M.S. degree.
Micaela Poetsch holds a Ph.D. degree and is a professor at the Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Essen.
Johannes Hasse holds an M.S. degree.
Hartmut Fischer holds an M.D. degree.
Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark holds a Ph.D. degree.
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Schwark, T., Modrow, JH., Steinmeier, E. et al. The auditory ossicles as a DNA source for genetic identification of highly putrefied cadavers. Int J Legal Med 129, 457–462 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-015-1177-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-015-1177-3