Mitochondrial DNA Quantification in Animal Blood and Hair by Slot-Blotting

Abstract

The hairs of cats and dogs easily cling to various objects whose surfaces are not entirely smooth; the result is that hairs are constantly found on clothes, furnitures, carpets, etc. which are in contact with the everyday life of these animals. This type of evidence could become an extremely important evidential value in the investigations of certain crimes and offences. By their interesting unusual presence in certain places, they may give interesting informations on the circumstances of the crime. Hairs are potential sources of DNA. However, the samples which are analysed often have roots of bad quality or even no roots at all, this means that there is a great risk of not having enough genomic DNA to carry out an analysis, even by PCR. It is therefore interesting to analyse the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the shaft of the hair. As for the analysis of genomic DNA, to know the amount of DNA available would be a precious information.