Petrous bones versus tooth cementum for genetic analysis of aged skeletal remains

Abstract

A proper sampling strategy is important to obtain sufficient DNA for successful identification of aged skeletal remains. The petrous bone is the highest DNA-yielding bone in the human body. Because DNA extraction from the petrous bone is very destructive, the demand for other DNA sources is significant. When investigating aged skeletal remains, teeth are usually preserved, and recent studies have shown that DNA in teeth can be best preserved in the dental cementum that surrounds the surface of the tooth root. To extract DNA from the surface of the tooth root, a nondestructive method without grinding was used. Petrous bones and teeth from 60 archaeological adult skeletons were analyzed. The DNA yield, degree of DNA degradation, and STR typing success were compared, and the results showed higher DNA yield and higher amplification success in petrous bones, despite higher degradation of petrous bones’ DNA. The greater success of petrous bones is associated with poorly preserved DNA in a quarter of the teeth analyzed. When teeth with badly preserved DNA were excluded from the statistical analysis, no differences in the success of STR loci amplification were observed even if DNA yield was higher in petrous bones, which can be explained by greater degradation of petrous bones’ DNA. When teeth are well preserved, they can be used for genetically analyzing aged skeletal remains instead of petrous bones, and a rapid nondestructive extraction method can be applied to shorten the identification process and to physically preserve the biological specimen.