Comparison of two methods for isolating DNA from human skeletal remains for STR analysis

The quality and efficiency of a standard organic DNA isolation method and a silica-based method using the QIAGEN Blood Maxi Kit were compared to obtain human DNA and short tandem repeats (STRs) profiles from 39 exhumed bone samples for paternity testing. DNA samples were quantified by real-time PCR, and STR profiles were obtained using the AmpFlSTR(®) Identifiler(®) PCR amplification kit. Overall, the silica-based method recovered less DNA ranging from 0 to 147.7 ng/g (average 7.57 ng/g, median = 1.3 ng/g) than did the organic method ranging from 0 to 605 ng/g (average 44.27 ng/g, median = 5.8 ng/g). Complete profiles (16/16 loci tested) were obtained from 37/39 samples (95%) using the organic method and from 9/39 samples (23%) with the silica-based method. Compared with a standard organic DNA isolation method, our results indicate that the published silica-based method does not improve neither the quality nor the quantity of DNA for STR profiling.