MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS - IDENTIFICATION OF REMAINS FROM THE VIETNAM-WAR

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence analysis of the control region of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome was used to identify human skele tal remains returned to the United States government by the Vietnamese government in 1984. The postmortem interval was thought to be 24 year s at the time of testing, and the remains presumed to be an American s ervice member. DNA typing methods using nuclear genomic DNA, HLA-DQ al pha [1] and the variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) locus D1S80 [2 ], were unsuccessful using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) [3]. Am plification of a portion of the mtDNA control region was performed, an d the resulting PCR product subjected to DNA sequence analysis. The DN A sequence generated from the skeletal remains was identical to the ma ternal reference sequence, as well as the sequence generated from two siblings (sisters). The sequence was unique when compared to more than 650 DNA sequences found both in the literature and provided by person al communications. The individual sequence polymorphisms were present in only 23 of the more than 1300 nucleotide positions analyzed. These results support the observation [4] that in cases where conventional D NA typing is unavailable, mtDNA sequencing can be used for human remai ns identification.