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This story is from June 2, 2008
Human DNA in household dust
Researchers have for the first time identified human DNA in household dust - a breakthrough which they claim could be used in future to trap murderers and thieves.
Although the amount of DNA recovered is tiny, further study could find ways of recreating someone's profile or even working out how recently they'd visited a crime scene from the decay of their DNA.
"The discovery that human DNA is detectable and measurable in dust is a first. People have quantified the amount of DNA in dust many times before, but no one had looked before for human DNA," co-researcher Bonnie Brown said.
Brown and his colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond collected dust samples from various rooms around their campus, from highly trafficked classrooms to quieter offices.
Most of the DNA they recovered came from bacteria or fungi, but there was human DNA in all except one of their 36 samples, the New Scientist reported. Though each sample contained just trillionths of a gram of DNA, it was more than enough for profiling via DNA kits used in forensic labs, according to the Virginia team.
But the read-outs contained overlapping signals from so many people that it was virtually impossible to pick out anyone's DNA profile. However, technology may overcome this obstacle, researchers hoped.
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