Misture: rapporto tra DNA genomico e DNA mitocondriale

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis is a growimg area of fotrensic testing, but many aspects of its potentialities are steel to be explored. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relation between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA in mixtures prepared with body fluids like skin, saliva, blood and semen, donate from two male donors, variously combined with each other in different dilution (pure, 1:10, 1:20) in order to simulate forensic casework. After DNA extraction from each sample, nuclear DNA was analyzed with STR marker high peaks to determinate the extent to which the two donors were present in the mixtures, instead for the analysis of mtDNA were taken into account the Hypervariable region 1 (HV1) and the Hypervariable region 2 (HV2), and after sequencing, a quantitative snapshot analysis has been performed to target four single nucleotide polimorphism (SNP) position in the two mitochondrial regions considered and allows for discrimination of two donors. The skin tissue is here considered for the first time, giving the increasing relevance in the forensic routine of the new touch DNA tecniques and, secondly, because is the sole way recreating the de-epithelialization of a rotting corpse. Results, as aspected, have shown a non-correspondence between genomic and mitochondrial DNA in some of analyzed samples, especially mixtures of skin and semen.