Preliminary studies into profiling DNA recovered from a radiation or radioactivity incident

Degradation of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA after γ-irradiation and its effect on forensic genotyping

“…2). This result is unusual and not demonstrated by prior studies exploring similar effects [17,18,[38][39][40]42]. It is unlikely that inherent template damage or cellular function is responsible for these observations, since the doses applied are beyond those expected to initiate any adaptive DNA repair response [45][46][47].…”

“…These lesions can prevent strand uncoiling, alter primer binding sites, and/or block DNA polymerase during PCR [14,15]. This results in allelic dropout, particularly for longer amplicons that incur DNA damage lesions with greater frequency [16], following sufficiently high doses (> 10 kGy) of γ-radiation [17,18]. multiplexed STRs is unrivalled by HVR sequencing [23,24].…”

“…This has also been achieved for dried bloodstains up to 381 90 kGy [40], although reductions in peak height are typical 382 after 10 kGy [17,18,38]. Successful STR genotypes and HV1…”

Nuclear Forensics: Scientific Analysis Supporting Law Enforcement and Nuclear Security Investigations

“…For material contaminated with radionuclides, a critical consideration is whether exposure to radiation will in fact diminish the value of forensic evidence. Research has been undertaken, and continues to occur, to quantitatively explore the effects of ionizing radiation in a range of forensic evidence types including DNA, − fingerprints, , electronic devices, and fibers . Generally, this research suggests that these evidence types may retain forensic value in spite of exposure to ionizing radiation and thus should be examined as part of the nuclear forensics process.…”