Polymorphic DNA profiles of soil sample micro-flora for use in forensic comparisons between samples of known and unknown origin

摘要

A process for determining the origin of one or more samples containing micro-flora is described. The process involves the taking at least one sample of unknown origin, extracting DNA from the micro-flora of the sample, amplifying and conducting analysis of the amplified DNA, and comparing the analysis of the amplified DNA of the sample to that of a sample of known origin. The electropherograms show a comparison of a microbial community profile for soil taken from a shoe print and a soil sample taken from a suspect's shoes. The similarity index of these two DNA profiles was very high (0.9 as per Sorenson's index), as evidenced by the fact that the electropherograms are almost entirely superimposable.