title: Resistance of degraded hair shafts to contaminant DNA.
abstract: We have investigated the susceptibility of degraded human hair shaft samples to contamination by exogenous sources of DNA, including blood, saliva, skin cells, and purified DNA. The results indicate that on the whole hair shafts are either largely resistant to penetration by contaminant DNA, or extremely easy to successfully decontaminate. This pertains to samples that are both morphologically and biochemically degraded. We suggest that this resistance to the incorporation of contaminant DNA relates to the hydrophobic and impermeable nature of the keratin structures forming the hair shaft. Therefore, hair samples represent an important and underestimated source of DNA in both forensic and ancient DNA studies.
authors.affiliation: Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. mtpgilbert@spymac.com
authors.forename: M Thomas P
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Menez
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Janaway
authors.forename: Desmond J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Tobin
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D017931:DNA Primers; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D012463:Saliva
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004247:DNA