DNA Recovery from Aged Bloodstains on Various Filter Papers

Participants: Margaret C. Kline, Janette W. Redman, and David L. Duewer

Project Timeframe: Spring 2001

Purpose: In collaboration with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology’s Department of Defense DNA Registry, NIST evaluated the performance of a short tandem repeat multiplex with dried whole blood stains on four different commercially available identification card matrixes. 

Progress: DNA from 70 stains that had been stored for 19 months at ambient temperature was extracted or directly amplified and then processed using routine methods. All four storage media provided fully typeable (qualitatively identical) samples. After standardization, the average among locus fluorescence intensity (electropherogram's peak height or area) provided a suitable metric for quantitative analysis of the relative amounts of amplifiable DNA in an archived sample. The amounts of DNA in Chelex extracts from stains on two untreated high-purity cotton linter pulp papers and a paper treated with a DNA-binding coating were essentially identical. Average intensities for the aqueous extracts from a paper treated with a DNA releasing coating were somewhat lower but also somewhat less variable than for the Chelex extracts. Average intensities of directly amplified punches of the DNA-binding paper were much larger but somewhat more variable than the Chelex extracts. Approximately 25% of the observed variation among the intensity measurements is shared among the four media and thus can be attributed to intrinsic variation in white blood count among the donors. All of the evaluated media adequately “bank” forensically useful DNA in well-dried whole blood stains for at least 19 months at ambient temperature.

Publications or Presentations Resulting From This Project:

Kline, M.C., Duewer, D.L., Redman, J.W., Butler, J.M., Boyer, D.A. (2002) Polymerse chain reaction amplification of DNA from aged blood stains: quantitative evaluation of the “suitability for purpose” of four filter papers as archival media. Anal. Chem. 74: 1863-1869.

Margaret Kline talk at American Academy of Forensic Sciences (Atlanta, GA), February 14, 2002 , "Effects of Storage Temperature and Humidity Control on the Recovery of DNA from Aged-Bloodstains" [.pdf]

Margaret Kline talk at Mini-Symposium: Dry-State Storage of DNA (Frederick, MD), March 29, 2005, "Recovery of DNA from Aged Bloodstains" [.pdf]

Margaret Kline poster at International Environmental Specimen Bank Symposium (Charleston, SC),  November 13-17, 2005, "Effects of Storage Temperature on the Recovery of DNA from Aged-Bloodstains" [.pdf]

 

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Last updated: 06/20/2007

Disclaimer: This project was supported by National Institute of Justice Grant Number 2003-IJ-R-029, which is an interagency agreement between NIJ and the NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice. Certain commercial equipment, instruments and materials are identified in order to specify experimental procedures as completely as possible.  In no case does such identification imply a recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology nor does it imply that any of the materials, instruments or equipment identified are necessarily the best available for the purpose.