Presence and potential of cell free DNA in different types of forensic samples

Extracellular or cell free DNA has been found to exist in many biological media such as blood and saliva. To check whether cell free DNA is present in the supernatant which is normally discarded during several DNA extraction processes, such as Chelex(®) extraction, DNA profiles of cell pellet and concentrated supernatant from 30 artificial case like samples and from 100 real forensic samples were compared. Presence of cell free DNA was shown in all investigated sample types. Moreover, in some samples additional alleles, not detected during analysis of the cell pellet, were detected, offering valuable information which would normally have been discarded together with the supernatant. The results presented here indicate that cell free DNA deserves further consideration since it has the potential to increase the DNA yield in forensic casework samples in general and in contact traces in particular.