The use of mitochondrial DNA and short tandem repeat typing in the identification of air crash victims

In February 1998, a civilian air plane crashed into a remote mountainside i n the Philippines, killing all 104 passengers and crew. The victims were su bjected to severe environmental insult, preventing conventional identificat ion methods in most cases. As part of the identification process, samples w ere subjected to a combination of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and short tande m repeat (STR) DNA profiling. The DNA extracted from the victims' remains w as in all cases highly degraded. However, profiting using mtDNA was still s uccessful with 95% of the victims' samples; this compared to a 50% success rate using three STR loci. The use of mtDNA and STR profiling enabled 187 h uman fragments from the crash site to be placed into 80 distinct groups; wh en combined with postmortem data, the samples could be further separated in to 95 distinct groups, thereby assisting in the identification process.