Evaluating the efficacy of three Y-STRs commercial kits in degraded skeletal remains.

Y chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) typing is a useful tool in scenarios such as mass graves analysis or disaster victim identification and has become a routine analysis in many laboratories. Not many comparisons have been performed with the currently available commercial kits, much less with degraded skeletal remains. This research aims to evaluate the performance of three commercial Y-STR kits: Yfiler™ Plus, PowerPlex® Y23, and Investigator® Argus Y-28 in 63 degraded skeletal remains from mass graves.

Evaluation of the usefulness of insertion-null markers in critical skeletal remains.

Forensic DNA analysis in compromised skeletal remains may pose challenges due to DNA degradation, often resulting in partial or negative autosomal STRs profiles. To address this issue, alternative approaches such as mitochondrial DNA or SNPs typing may be employed; however, they are labour-intensive and costly. Insertion-null alleles (INNULs), short interspersed nuclear elements, have been suggested as a valuable tool for human identification in challenging samples due to their small amplicon size.

Performance comparison of four qPCR and three autosomal STR commercial kits from degraded skeletal remains.

This research evaluates the current DNA quantification (Quantifiler™ Trio, PowerQuant®, Investigator® Quantiplex® Pro and InnoQuant® HY Fast) and autosomal STRs amplification kits (GlobalFiler™, PowerPlex® Fusion 6 C, Investigator® 24Plex QS) using 62 degraded skeletal remains from armed conflicts (petrous bone, femur, tibia, and tooth) with several parameters (autosomal small, large, and male target, degradation index, probability of degradation, number of alleles above analytical threshold, number of alleles above stochastic threshold, RFU, peak height ratio, number of reportable loci). The best qPCR/autosomal STRs amplification tandem was determined by comparing quantification results by a DNA quantity estimation based on sample average RFU. InnoQuant® HY Fast was the most sensitive kit, and no significative differences were observed among amplification kits; however, Investigator® 24 Plex QS was found to be the most sensitive in our samples.

A comparison between petrous bone and tooth, femur and tibia DNA analysis from degraded skeletal remains.

Skeletal remains are the only biological material that remains after long periods; however, environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and pH affect DNA preservation, turning skeletal remains into a challenging sample for DNA laboratories. Sample selection is a key factor, and femur and tooth have been traditionally recommended as the best substrate of genetic material. Recently, petrous bone (cochlear area) has been suggested as a better option due to its DNA yield.

A comparison of five DNA extraction methods from degraded human skeletal remains.

Extracting DNA from degraded human remains poses a challenge for any forensic genetics laboratory, as it requires efficient high-throughput methods. While little research has compared different techniques, silica in suspension has been identified in the literature as the best method for recovering small fragments, which are often present in these types of samples. In this study, we tested five DNA extraction protocols on 25 different degraded skeletal remains.

GITAD 2020: quality assurance test through 20 years of experience.

GITAD (Grupo Iberoamericano de Trabajo en Análisis de DNA) was founded in 1998 as the first operational group of AICEF (Academia Iberoamericana de Criminalística y Estudios Forenses), formally created in 1999. The mission and the vision of GITAD are to promote the development of forensic genetics in Ibero-American countries and to achieve the maximum level of innovation and quality in each country, and with that aim, a proficiency test was developed. Since 1999, the member laboratories receive four reference samples with the objective of obtaining the genetic profile with their routine protocols, a theoretical exercise since 2003, and since 2007, it was incorporated a forensic sample, which changes every year.

Usefulness of Microbiome for Forensic Geolocation: A Review.

Forensic microbiomics is a promising tool for crime investigation. Geolocation, which connects an individual to a certain place or location by microbiota, has been fairly well studied in the literature, and several applications have been found. The aim of this review is to highlight the main findings in this field, including the current sample storage, DNA extraction, sequencing and data analysis techniques that are being used, and its potential applications in human trafficking and ancient DNA studies.

Population genetic data of 20 insertion-null allele markers in the Andalusian population.

Genetic data from 21 autosomal insertion-null (INNULs) markers found in the InnoTyper® 21 Human DNA Analysis (InnoGenomics®) was evaluated in 190 unrelated individuals from Andalusia. Allele frequencies and forensic parameters were estimated for the 20 INNULs. All loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the study population after Bonferroni correction and showed no signs of linkage between them.

Alkylphospholipids: An update on molecular mechanisms and clinical relevance.

Alkylphospholipids (APLs) represent a new class of drugs which do not interact directly with DNA but act on the cell membrane where they accumulate and interfere with lipid metabolism and signalling pathways. This review summarizes the mode of action at the molecular level of these compounds. In this sense, a diversity of mechanisms has been suggested to explain the actions of clinically-relevant APLs, in particular, in cancer treatment.