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Persistence of DNA in the Singapore context

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Abstract

The relevance and not merely the presence of one’s DNA at a crime scene has become the emerging issue in courtrooms all over the world today. By studying the length of time DNA is likely to persist in an environment until detection, a more holistic assessment of DNA evidence in the context of a case can be made. The current study looks at the persistence of DNA from blood, keratinocytes, and several types of mock exhibits under various conditions, in the tropical rainforest climate of Singapore. While DNA on articles left outdoors showed highly variable persistence subject to the presence of rainfall, DNA from items placed indoors at ambient temperature and under controlled temperature and humidity is comparatively stable. The information gathered from this study, while not exhaustive, serves to provide investigators and the courts with a better understanding of the relevance of DNA recovered from crime scenes of different environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore. The authors would like to thank all volunteers for their contribution to this study and to Professor Birgit Lane of the Institute of Medical Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, for providing the source material of anonymized keratinocytes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DNA Profiling Laboratory, Applied Sciences Group, Health Sciences Authority, 11 Outram Road, Singapore, 169078, Singapore

    Li Yen Candy Lee, Hang Yee Wong, Jun Yu Lee, Zubaidah Binti Mohd Waffa, Zhen Qin Aw, Siti Nur Arfah Binte Mohd Fauzi, See Ying Hoe, Mae-Lynn Lim & Christopher Kiu-Choong Syn

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  1. Li Yen Candy Lee
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  2. Hang Yee Wong
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  3. Jun Yu Lee
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  4. Zubaidah Binti Mohd Waffa
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  5. Zhen Qin Aw
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  6. Siti Nur Arfah Binte Mohd Fauzi
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  7. See Ying Hoe
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  8. Mae-Lynn Lim
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  9. Christopher Kiu-Choong Syn
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Correspondence to Li Yen Candy Lee or Hang Yee Wong.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed involving human participants were in compliance with ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the study.

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Lee, L.Y.C., Wong, H.Y., Lee, J.Y. et al. Persistence of DNA in the Singapore context. Int J Legal Med 133, 1341–1349 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02077-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02077-2

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