Analytical Sciences

Potential Utility of DNA Sequence Analysis of Long-term-stored Plant Leaf Fragments for Forensic Discrimination and Identification

Hitomi S. KIKKAWA,* Ritsuko SUGITA,* Rikyu MATSUKI,** and Shinichi SUZUKI*

*Third Department of Forensic Science, National Research Institute of Police Science, 6-3-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-0882, Japan
**Biological Environment Sector, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 1646 Abiko, Abiko, Chiba 270-1194, Japan

This study examined the potential utility of DNA sequence analysis to discriminate and identify plant material in forensic investigations. DNA was extracted from plant leaf fragments of 11 species stored for 5 to 22 years after collection. The trnH-psbA intergenic spacer and 316 bp of the rbcL gene were successfully amplified and sequenced for all fragments except for the trnH-psbA spacer of one sample. All of the plant samples were discriminated in pairwise comparisons of the sequences. Using a combination of local and global genetic databases is likely to provide greater reliability in search results to identify forensic samples from sequence data.

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