title: DNA Profiling Success Rates from Degraded Skeletal Remains in Guatemala.
abstract: No data are available regarding the success of DNA Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiling from degraded skeletal remains in Guatemala. Therefore, DNA profiling success rates relating to 2595 skeletons from eleven cases at the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) are presented. The typical postmortem interval was 30 years. DNA was extracted from bone powder and amplified using Identifiler and Minifler. DNA profiling success rates differed between cases, ranging from 50.8% to 7.0%, the overall success rate for samples was 36.3%. The best DNA profiling success rates were obtained from femur (36.2%) and tooth (33.7%) samples. DNA profiles were significantly better from lower body bones than upper body bones (p = <0.0001). Bone samples from males gave significantly better profiles than samples from females (p = <0.0001). These results are believed to be related to bone density. The findings are important for designing forensic DNA sampling strategies in future victim recovery investigations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala, 1ra Calle 1-53, Zona 2, Guatemala, Guatemala.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala, 1ra Calle 1-53, Zona 2, Guatemala, Guatemala.
authors.forename: Mishel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stephenson
mesh_terms: D000071298:Body Remains; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006166:Guatemala; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: DNA typing; Guatemala; degraded skeletal remains; forensic science; human identification; short tandem repeat