MTDNA AS A TOOL FOR IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN REMAINS - IDENTIFICATION USING MTDNA

Two cases are presented in order to emphasize the importance of mitoch ondrial DNA in forensic medicine. The first case involved a charred bo dy which could not be identified by morphological means because of sev ere destruction of all tissues. The parallel use of PCR methods using genomic DNA and sequencing of the mitochondrial d-loop region produced unequivocal and reproducible results. In the second case, various par ts of a highly decomposed body were investigated. The application of s tandard PCR methods for genomic DNA proved unsuitable to answer the qu estion whether the body parts belonged to the same body. However, when sequencing of mitochondrial DNA segments amplified from tissue and bo ne samples was performed, clearly interpretable results were obtained.