DNA Profiles from Fingermarks

Abstract

Criminal investigations would be considerably improved if DNA profiles could be routinely generated from single fingermarks. Here we report a direct DNA profiling method that was able to generate interpretable profiles from 71% of 170 fingermarks. The data are based on fingermarks from all 5 digits of 34 individuals. DNA was obtained from the fingermarks using a swab moistened with Triton-X, and the fibers were added directly to one of two commercial DNA profiling kits. All profiles were obtained without increasing the number of amplification cycles; therefore, our method is ideally suited for adoption by the forensic science community. We indicate the use of the technique in a criminal case in which a DNA profile was generated from a fingermark on tape that was wrapped around a drug seizure. Our direct DNA profiling approach is rapid and able to generate profiles from touched items when current forensic practices have little chance of success.

Catastrophic cat predation: A call for predator profiling in wildlife protection programs

“…Criminal, aggregate and DNA profiling is used extensively in crime fighting and data mining applications (Hildebrandt, 2008;Kocsis, 2007) and many human forensic and profiling methods could be adapted to predator profiling for threatened species protection. The recent advancement in trace DNA field sampling at crime scenes (Templeton and Linacre, 2014) suggests that matching DNA from animal carcasses to individual predators is becoming more reliable, and when integrated with forensic evidence (spoor patterns e.g. Taberlet and Luikart, 1999, autopsy results, camera trap images) can accurately identify individuals responsible for predation events.…”

DNA profiles from fingermarks: A mock case study

“…A number of precautions were taken for the handling and processing of 'touch' DNA samples; these have been extensively described elsewhere [5]. Four volunteers touched various substrates (wooden knife handles, glass, masking tape, brass cartridge cases, aluminium cartridge cases and nickel cartridge cases) for less than 15 seconds, before the items were left out-side in a shrub bed area.…”

“…Sampling was repeated in triplicate for each volunteer. Twenty four hours later, or 8 days later (sample study 5), items were collected/processed (n = 90) and for wood, glass and cartridge cases a targeted swabbing approach was used [5] subsequent to direct PCR. For masking tape, a 2 cm 2 section of tape was placed into a 1.5 mL Eppendorf tube containing Triton X buffer at 0.1 % (Sigma, VIC, AU) and heated at 50 ºC for 1 hour, vortexed and 10 µL of this lysis buffer was added directly to the PCR tube in place of water/DNA.…”

“…Under these circumstances, standard protocols for swabbing and extracting 'touch' DNA from these items often recover sub-optimal levels of trace nuclear DNA [3] that can result in a poor quality STR-based DNA profile or no profile at all. The aim of this study is to determine the value of using the optimised swabbing technique [5] and direct PCR at amplifying 'touch' DNA from fingermarks as part of a mock case study.…”

Reduced reaction volumes and increased Taq DNA polymerase concentration improve STR profiling outcomes from a real-world low template DNA source: telogen hairs

“…We believe that additional testing of these new kits using reduced reaction volumes and increased Taq DNA polymerase concentrations may deliver some of the key benefits observed here with Profiler Plus. In addition, direct PCR offers a promising alternative to modified PCR conditions for LTDNA sources, including hair and fingerprints, by reducing opportunities for DNA loss during extraction and allele drop-out [44,45].…”