U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Successful mRNA Profiling of 23 Years Old Blood Stains

NCJ Number
240633
Journal
Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2012 Pages: 274-276
Author(s)
Fanni Kohlmeier; Peter M. Schneider
Date Published
March 2012
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The aim of this study was to detect over 20 years old blood stains with two mRNA markers for blood.
Abstract
In this study, 23-years-old human blood stains on different and problematic carrier materials - such as jeans, leather, wood, wallpaper, carpet, wool, and nylon fabric - were investigated by mRNA analysis of the blood markers HBB and SPTB. HBB turned out to be a very stable marker that could be detected in all blood samples from all carrier materials whereas SPTB showed no positive result in any of these old samples. Typing of co-extracted genomic DNA provided full STR profiles with the exception of one stain resulting in a partial profile. No differences were observed regarding the quality of results due to possible inhibitorial substances from carrier materials such as jeans or leather, whereas some difficulties to extract nucleic acids were caused by the physical properties of materials such as carpet fibers. HBB can be highly recommended for the identification of old blood stains in forensic casework, as it was possible to detect HBB even in stains that failed to provide a full DNA profile. (Published Abstract)