Increased migration rate observed in DNA from evidentiary material precludes the use of sample mixing to resolve forensic cases of identity

Abstract

The analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms in forensic DNA samples can be used to determine whether any two or more samples have the same biological origin. However, sometimes DNA recovered from evidentiary material, such as blood or semen stains, migrates at a different rate than an exemplar sample. This difference in migration, while maintaining the same overall pattern, produces a shift in the position of the bands. To verify that a shift in migration has occurred between evidence and exemplar samples, we have utilized two DNA probes that recognize DNA fragments that do not vary in size between individuals (monomorphic). The results obtained with this type of internal control show that differences in migration rate between exemplar and evidentiary samples can be recognized and accounted for and do not affect the ability to decide whether two patterns match. A common practice in many analytical tests, to show identity between two samples, is to test the properties of the samples individually and mixed. However, this approach is not applicable to all forensic DNA identity tests. In many cases, DNA from forensic samples may be irreversibly modified and this can alter the migration rate of the DNA samples. Thus, in a mixture of DNA from exemplar and evidence, the same polymorphic DNA fragments may not comigrate and produce a composite pattern which could lead to false exclusions.