An Evaluation of the Performance of Two Quantification Methods for Trace DNA Casework Samples

Abstract

Trace or Touch DNA is one of the most common types of DNA samples found at crime scenes and is often collected in vast quantities from crime scene exhibits. Quantification methods that use real-time PCR (qPCR) technology are highly sensitive compared to traditional quantification methods, therefore, this study evaluated the performance of Quantifiler™ Human and Quantifiler™ Trio quantification kits for the same set of trace DNA samples collected from handled items recovered from crime scenes at the Biology and DNA Section of the General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology of Dubai Police Force. Both methods achieved comparable results indicating that there was no significant difference between the two quantification methods to quantify the collected trace DNA from the handled items (p > 0.05).

Keywords: Forensic Science, Trace DNA, Touch DNA, DNA Quantification, Quantifiler™ Human DNA Quantification Kit, Quantifiler™ Trio DNA Quantification Kit, Global Filer™ PCR Amplification Kit