You can’t hide encoded evidence: DNA recovery from different fabrics after washing

Abstract

Bloodstains are extremely important forensic evidence for DNA profiling. The current study has been planned to quantify DNA recovery from a list of fabrics tested after washing. On each fabric, spots of blood was dotted, and the dried-bloodstained fabrics were hand washed with tap water, soaked in tap water with detergent and then hand washed, for 5 and 10 min. DNA was extracted through Chelex100 from these fabrics and quantified through Real Time PCR using the Quantifiler Human DNA Quantification kit. Results showed that DNA can be recovered from fabrics after they have been washed. The amount of recovered DNA is comparable among these fabrics and did not show significant variations with washing methods. Blends of fabrics showed the highest recovery while non-absorbent fabrics showed least DNA recovery. Knowledge of the different DNA quantities recovered from washed fabrics will be useful in solving criminal cases. The ability to recover DNA from washed fabrics could prove important in forensic casework.

Keywords:

• Forensic DNA
• washed fabrics
• blood
• quantification
• DNA recovery
• PCR

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Shahid Nazir, Safdar Hussain and Waqas Latif for their support in this study.