Comparison of Isohelix™ and Rayon swabbing systems for touch DNA recovery from metal surfaces.

ABSTRACT: A previous study evaluating two swabbing systems found that DNA was best recovered from sterile metal substrates using an Isohelix™ swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol rather than a Rayon swab with water as the wetting agent. We tested the same swabbing systems on metal (aluminum, brass, and stainless steel) and plastic substrates in a regularly touched environment to simulate the non-deliberate transfer of touch evidence likely seen in a casework scenario, to ascertain the performance of these swabs in an uncontrolled situation. Higher amounts of touch DNA were recovered with Isohelix™ swabs (0.5 - 3.3 ng) compared to Rayon swabs (0.13 - 1.2 ng). The Isohelix™ swabbing system was found to significantly recover more touch DNA (p = 0.04) from the metal substrates than the Rayon swabbing syst

SUBMITTER: Bonsu DOM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8528942 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature