TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing a novel room temperature DNA storage medium for forensic biological samples
AU - Lee, Steven B.
AU - Clabaugh, Kimberly C.
AU - Silva, Brie
AU - Odigie, Kingsley O.
AU - Coble, Michael D.
AU - Loreille, Odile
AU - Scheible, Melissa
AU - Fourney, Ron M.
AU - Stevens, Jesse
AU - Carmody, George R.
AU - Parsons, Thomas J.
AU - Pozder, Arijana
AU - Eisenberg, Arthur J.
AU - Budowle, Bruce
AU - Ahmad, Taha
AU - Miller, Russell W.
AU - Crouse, Cecelia A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to dedicate this paper in loving memory of Jeane Marie Crouse. The authors would like to thank Amy McGuckian and Julie Conover-Sikorsky of PBSO and Linda Le of SJSU for their technical help during this project. This work was supported by a California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology Joint Venture Grant to Steven Lee at SJSU and a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant [ DBI-0647160 to Julio Soto, Cleber Ouverney and Steven Lee at SJSU and a California Association of Criminalists A. Reed and V. McGlaughlin Scholarship to Kimberly Clabaugh and Brie Silva. The authors also acknowledge support for this project provided by Dr. Rolf Muller and Dr. Judy Muller-Cohn and thank Dr. Omo Clement of Biomatrica and Ines Iglesias-Lee of Oakland Police Department Crime Laboratory for their careful reviews of the manuscript.
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - The ability to properly collect, analyze and preserve biological stains is important to preserving the integrity of forensic evidence. Stabilization of intact biological evidence in cells and the DNA extracts from them is particularly important since testing is generally not performed immediately following collection. Furthermore, retesting of stored DNA samples may be needed in casework for replicate testing, confirmation of results, and to accommodate future testing with new technologies. A novel room temperature DNA storage medium, SampleMatrix™ (SM; Biomatrica, Inc., San Diego, CA), was evaluated for stabilizing and protecting samples. Human genomic DNA samples at varying amounts (0.0625-200 ng) were stored dry in SM for 1 day to 1 year under varying conditions that included a typical ambient laboratory environment and also through successive freeze-thaw cycles (3 cycles). In addition, spiking of 1-4× SM into samples prior to analysis was performed to determine any inhibitory effects of SM. Quantification of recovered DNA following storage was determined by quantitative PCR or by agarose gel electrophoresis, and evaluation of quantitative peak height results from multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analyses were performed to assess the efficacy of SM for preserving DNA. Results indicate no substantial differences between the quality of samples stored frozen in liquid and those samples maintained dry at ambient temperatures protected in SM. For long-term storage and the storage of low concentration samples, SM provided a significant advantage over freezer storage through higher DNA recovery. No detectable inhibition of amplification was observed at the recommended SM concentration and complete profiles were obtained from genomic DNA samples even in the presence of higher than recommended concentrations of the SM storage medium. The ability to stabilize and protect DNA from degradation at ambient temperatures for extended time periods could have tremendous impact in simplifying and improving sample storage conditions and requirements. The current work focuses on forensics analysis; however this technology is applicable to all endeavors requiring storage of DNA.
AB - The ability to properly collect, analyze and preserve biological stains is important to preserving the integrity of forensic evidence. Stabilization of intact biological evidence in cells and the DNA extracts from them is particularly important since testing is generally not performed immediately following collection. Furthermore, retesting of stored DNA samples may be needed in casework for replicate testing, confirmation of results, and to accommodate future testing with new technologies. A novel room temperature DNA storage medium, SampleMatrix™ (SM; Biomatrica, Inc., San Diego, CA), was evaluated for stabilizing and protecting samples. Human genomic DNA samples at varying amounts (0.0625-200 ng) were stored dry in SM for 1 day to 1 year under varying conditions that included a typical ambient laboratory environment and also through successive freeze-thaw cycles (3 cycles). In addition, spiking of 1-4× SM into samples prior to analysis was performed to determine any inhibitory effects of SM. Quantification of recovered DNA following storage was determined by quantitative PCR or by agarose gel electrophoresis, and evaluation of quantitative peak height results from multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) analyses were performed to assess the efficacy of SM for preserving DNA. Results indicate no substantial differences between the quality of samples stored frozen in liquid and those samples maintained dry at ambient temperatures protected in SM. For long-term storage and the storage of low concentration samples, SM provided a significant advantage over freezer storage through higher DNA recovery. No detectable inhibition of amplification was observed at the recommended SM concentration and complete profiles were obtained from genomic DNA samples even in the presence of higher than recommended concentrations of the SM storage medium. The ability to stabilize and protect DNA from degradation at ambient temperatures for extended time periods could have tremendous impact in simplifying and improving sample storage conditions and requirements. The current work focuses on forensics analysis; however this technology is applicable to all endeavors requiring storage of DNA.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.fsigen.2011.01.008
DO - 10.1016/j.fsigen.2011.01.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 21324769
AN - SCOPUS:82655181307
SN - 1872-4973
VL - 6
SP - 31
EP - 40
JO - Forensic Science International: Genetics
JF - Forensic Science International: Genetics
IS - 1
ER -