title: Simultaneous assessment of average fragment size and amount in minute samples of degraded DNA.
abstract: There is currently no method allowing routine characterization of minute amounts of degraded DNA samples such as those encountered in forensic science, archived tissues, ancient DNA, extracellular or stool DNA, and processed food. Here we describe and directly validate such a method based, on the one hand, on a generalized DNA random fragmentation model and, on the other, on two quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments using two different target sizes. The model also makes it possible to determine the minimum sample amount, the minimum mass average fragment size, and the maximum degradation time necessary to obtain a positive PCR.
authors.affiliation: Université de Bordeaux; Plate-forme génomique fonctionnelle 146 Rue Léo Saignat; 33076 Bordeaux cedex; France.
authors.forename: Marthe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colotte
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Couallier
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tuffet
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bonnet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA