Abstract
THERE is considerable anthropological and forensic interest in the possibility of DNA typing skeletal remains. Trace amounts of DNA can be recovered even from 5,500-year-old bones and multicopy human mitochondrial DNA sequences can frequently be amplified from such DNA using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)1,2. But given the sensitivity of PCR, it is very difficult to exclude contaminating material. We now report the successful identification of the 8-year-old skeletal remains of a murder victim, by comparative typing of nuclear microsatellite markers3–5 in the remains and in the presumptive parents of the victim. This analysis establishes the authenticity of the bone DNA and the feasibility of bone DNA typing in forensic investigations.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hagelberg, E., Sykes, B. & Hedges, R. Nature 342, 485 (1989).
Hagelberg, E. & Clegg, J. B. Proc. R. Soc. B 244, 45–50 (1991).
Litt, M. & Luty, J. A. Am. J. hum. Genet. 44, 397–401 (1989).
Weber, J. L. & May, P. E. Am. J. hum. Genet. 44, 388–396 (1989).
Weber, J. L. Genomics 7, 524–530 (1990).
Houck, C. M., Rinehart, F. P. & Schmid, C. W. J. molec. Biol. 132, 289–306 (1979).
Wong, Z., Wilson, V., Patel, I., Povey, S. & Jeffreys, A. J. Ann. hum. Genet. 51, 269–288 (1987).
Jeffreys, A. J., Wilson, V., Neumann, R. & Keyte, J. Nucleic Acids Res. 16, 10953–10971 (1988).
Jeffreys, A. J., Neumann, R. & Wilson, V. Cell 60, 473–485 (1990).
Clark, J. M. Nucleic Acids Res. 16, 9677–9686 (1988).
Chakraborty, R., Fornage, M., Gueguen, R. & Boerwinkle, E. in DNA Fingerprinting: Approaches and Applications (ed. Burke, T., Dolf, G., Jeffreys, A. J. & Wolff, R.) (Birkhäuser-Verlag, Bern (in the press).
Weber, J. L., Kwitek, A. E. & May, P. E. Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 4640 (1990).
Weber, J. L., Kwitek, A. E. & May, P. E. Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 2199 (1990).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hagelberg, E., Gray, I. & Jeffreys, A. Identification of the skeletal remains of a murder victim by DNA analysis. Nature 352, 427–429 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/352427a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/352427a0
This article is cited by
-
Suitability of specific soft tissue swabs for the forensic identification of highly decomposed bodies
International Journal of Legal Medicine (2021)
-
Internal validation study of a newly developed 24-plex Y-STRs genotyping system for forensic application
International Journal of Legal Medicine (2019)
-
Genetic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of three Chinese ethnic groups using the Huaxia Platinum System
Scientific Reports (2018)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.