The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review
Forensic and medical examiners are often required to sample the body of a victim (either living or deceased), or a suspect of a criminal offence, for foreign DNA. This can provide useful information when the alleged activity involves the presence of various bodily fluids such as blood, semen, and/or...
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Forensic Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/5/1/9 |
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| author | Cara Woollacott Mariya Goray Roland A. H. van Oorschot Duncan Taylor |
| author_facet | Cara Woollacott Mariya Goray Roland A. H. van Oorschot Duncan Taylor |
| author_sort | Cara Woollacott |
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| description | Forensic and medical examiners are often required to sample the body of a victim (either living or deceased), or a suspect of a criminal offence, for foreign DNA. This can provide useful information when the alleged activity involves the presence of various bodily fluids such as blood, semen, and/or saliva, as well as skin contact made between a perpetrator and a victim. Optimal recovery techniques for the collection of DNA evidence, following crime-relevant skin contact, can be dependent on the surface being sampled. Additional factors to consider include the body areas typically contacted during various activities and the likelihood of non-self-DNA being present in those areas prior to contacts of interest. Therefore, an understanding of DNA transfer, prevalence, persistence, and recovery on a body can aid in the interpretation of DNA results given activity-level questions and increase the value of the findings from this type of evidence. This review aims to summarise research on DNA-TPPR concerning various human body surfaces following different types of activities. This review examines the prevalence of background DNA on different skin surfaces, the reported DNA transfer associated with different forms of contact, and how different cofounding factors can affect the persistence of DNA. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bd5c5c9352ea435bb3a4b2884e2b8ac9 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2673-6756 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forensic Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-bd5c5c9352ea435bb3a4b2884e2b8ac92025-08-20T02:11:10ZengMDPI AGForensic Sciences2673-67562025-02-0151910.3390/forensicsci5010009The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A ReviewCara Woollacott0Mariya Goray1Roland A. H. van Oorschot2Duncan Taylor3College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, AustraliaCollege of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, AustraliaOffice of the Chief Forensic Scientist, Victoria Police Forensic Services Department, Melbourne, VIC 3085, AustraliaCollege of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, AustraliaForensic and medical examiners are often required to sample the body of a victim (either living or deceased), or a suspect of a criminal offence, for foreign DNA. This can provide useful information when the alleged activity involves the presence of various bodily fluids such as blood, semen, and/or saliva, as well as skin contact made between a perpetrator and a victim. Optimal recovery techniques for the collection of DNA evidence, following crime-relevant skin contact, can be dependent on the surface being sampled. Additional factors to consider include the body areas typically contacted during various activities and the likelihood of non-self-DNA being present in those areas prior to contacts of interest. Therefore, an understanding of DNA transfer, prevalence, persistence, and recovery on a body can aid in the interpretation of DNA results given activity-level questions and increase the value of the findings from this type of evidence. This review aims to summarise research on DNA-TPPR concerning various human body surfaces following different types of activities. This review examines the prevalence of background DNA on different skin surfaces, the reported DNA transfer associated with different forms of contact, and how different cofounding factors can affect the persistence of DNA.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/5/1/9background DNAtransferprevalencepersistencerecoverytrace DNA |
| spellingShingle | Cara Woollacott Mariya Goray Roland A. H. van Oorschot Duncan Taylor The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review Forensic Sciences background DNA transfer prevalence persistence recovery trace DNA |
| title | The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review |
| title_full | The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review |
| title_fullStr | The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review |
| title_short | The Transfer, Prevalence, Persistence, and Recovery of DNA from Body Areas in Forensic Science: A Review |
| title_sort | transfer prevalence persistence and recovery of dna from body areas in forensic science a review |
| topic | background DNA transfer prevalence persistence recovery trace DNA |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/5/1/9 |
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