ABSTRACT
Cellular material in bone and tooth samples is well preserved due to the high complexity of the matrix components such as hydroxyapatite, collagen, osteocalcin, and minerals. About 70% of bone is comprised of hydroxyapatite, a complex structure containing several salts of calcium: calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, calcium uoride, calcium hydroxide, and citrate. Because of the protective quality of this tough matrix or shell, bone and tooth
4.1 Introduction 65 4.1.1 Bone and Tooth as Sources of DNA 65 4.1.2 Extraction of DNA 67
4.2 Precautions 67 4.3 Preparation of Samples 68 4.4 Lysis 68 4.5 Isolation of DNA 70 4.6 Kits and Protocols 71 4.7 Success Rate 73 4.8 Conclusions 73 Acknowledgments 75 References 75
samples are better and, many times, constitute the only source for human identity in aged or compromised evidence samples, or in cases of severe degradation (e.g., mass disaster, archived samples, historical cases, etc.). Teeth are the hardest tissue in the human body, due to dental enamel, and can remain intact under extreme environmental conditions. e International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) was established in 1996 with the objective of resolving the fate of the estimated 40,000 individuals missing from the con-icts in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995, and 1999 in Kosovo (Parsons et al. 2007). ese types of cases illustrate the important role that DNA analysis methods specic to bone and teeth play in the identication of human remains. In addition to mass atrocities, it is estimated that in the United States alone there are more than 40,000 skeletal remains stored at medical examiners, coroners, and law enforcement agencies, which cannot be identied by conventional methods (Gonzalez et al. 2009).
