Publications by authors named "Michel Bottinelli"
The identification of victims of a disaster (DVI) requires the collaboration of different specialists. Within a DVI context, DNA analyses often play an important role. Consequently, forensic genetic laboratories should be prepared to cope with DVI situations, as this can involve large-scale DNA profile comparisons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- X-chromosomal STRs are effective for analyzing complex kinship situations, and a new Swiss dataset was created with samples from 1198 individuals using a specific multiplex kit.
- Anomalies in allele patterns and various genetic parameters were identified, revealing linkage disequilibrium in three out of four linkage groups, but no significant population substructure within Switzerland.
- When compared to global datasets, the Swiss X-STR data aligns well with European genetic profiles.
Article Synopsis
- - A collaborative exercise involving multiple labs was conducted to evaluate how effectively different laboratories can analyze DNA from old bone samples, specifically those around 150 and 400 years old, supplied by institutions in Prague.
- - Eighteen participating laboratories used various techniques for DNA typing, and while they achieved consistent results for the 150-year-old sample, the 400-year-old sample presented challenges due to its degraded condition.
- - The study highlights the importance for labs to routinely check their methods for identifying degraded DNA in bone and teeth samples, ensuring minimal contamination risks during the process.
Background: Profiling sperm DNA present on vaginal swabs taken from rape victims often contributes to identifying and incarcerating rapists. Large amounts of the victim's epithelial cells contaminate the sperm present on swabs, however, and complicate this process. The standard method for obtaining relatively pure sperm DNA from a vaginal swab is to digest the epithelial cells with Proteinase K in order to solubilize the victim's DNA, and to then physically separate the soluble DNA from the intact sperm by pelleting the sperm, removing the victim's fraction, and repeatedly washing the sperm pellet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn sexual-assault cases, autosomal DNA analysis of gynecological swabs is a challenge, as the presence of a large quantity of female material may prevent detection of the male DNA. A solution to this problem is differential DNA extraction, but there is no established best practice for this. We decided to test the efficacy of a number of different protocols on simulated casework samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe standard method to purify sperm DNA from vaginal swabs taken from rape victims is to selectively digest the victim's epithelial cells to solubilize the victim's DNA, and then separate the soluble DNA from the intact sperm by centrifugation. A different approach to removing the soluble victim's DNA is to selectively degrade it using a nuclease, DNase I. DNase I reduces the amount of soluble DNA by over 1000-fold, while having virtually no effect on the sperm DNA remaining in the sperm head and inaccessible to the enzyme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF