Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40090872›Full record

ArticleJournal of forensic sciences2025

Improved DNA recovery and STR profile development from weathered Bos taurus bones using demineralized bone slices.

Ciara Rhodes, Reilly Price, Celeste Willetts, Jenise Swall, Laura Gaydosh Combs, Sarah Seashols-Williams

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of forensic sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Ciara RhodesIntegrative Life Sciences Doctoral Program, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4873-5973
Reilly PriceDepartment of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Celeste WillettsDepartment of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Jenise SwallDepartment of Statistical Sciences and Operations Research, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Laura Gaydosh CombsSuffolk County Crime Laboratory, Hauppauge, New York, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6050-2609
Sarah Seashols-WilliamsDepartment of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0093-8261

Funding

Forensic Sciences FoundationNational Institute of Justice 15PNIJ-23-GG-01944-RESS
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Current processing techniques for harvesting DNA from osseous elements are destructive, and success rates vary widely. When skeletal elements are homogenized into a fine powder, endogenous DNA may be subjected to fragmentation, and the likelihood of introducing co-purified inhibitory substances to the sample increases. While a limited number of articles in the relevant literature have challenged the status quo of pulverization, powdering hard tissue samples before DNA isolation continues to be standard practice in the forensic and ancient DNA communities. In this work, we have developed and optimized an alternative front-end processing method for demineralizing and slicing cortical bone using aged and weathered bovine skeletal samples as a model for degraded human bone. Additionally, this study evaluated the enzymatic digestion of demineralized bone slices using collagenase I as a powder-free alternative for cell isolation. The efficacy of pulverization, demineralized slices, and collagenase-digested demineralized slices was assessed via DNA quantitation and STR profile data. The combined treatment incorporating collagenase digestion of demineralized slices did not improve the recovery of endogenous DNA yields or STR profile development; however, profiles developed from demineralized slices retained a significantly greater percentage of expected alleles and higher peak heights than samples processed with conventional powdering and organic chemistry extraction. By eliminating pulverization of bone and employing modified silica-based extraction chemistry, the susceptibility to inhibitory and competitive effects from native and foreign components often found in degraded skeletal remains can be minimized when utilizing total demineralization of small fragments with subsequent slicing before lysis.

Indexed as

Bone Demineralization TechniqueCortical BoneDNADNA FingerprintingMicrosatellite RepeatsSpecimen HandlingAnimalsCattleCollagenasesPolymerase Chain ReactionCollagenasesDNAbone digestioncell isolationcollagenasedegradationdemineralizationDNA analysis

Identifiers

PMID40090872
PMCPMC12046109

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.