Blood group determination using DNA extracted from exfoliated primary teeth at various environmental conditions –A PCR Study

Blood grouping plays a major role in forensic science in the field of person identification. Objectives: To determine PCR based blood group on primary teeth pulp obtained from teeth stored under various environmental conditions like different pH, sea water and buried in soil for 6 months following extraction. Study design: Dental pulp tissue was collected from 50 exfoliated primary teeth stored at varying pH (4, 7, and 10), sea water and buried in soil for 6 months and preserved at 4oC till DNA extraction was carried out. DNA was extracted using silica membrane based spin-column procedure of Q1Aamp DNA minikit from Bio-Rad. DNA was subjected to PCR amplification Monoplex allele – specific PCR primers for ABO genotyping. Results: In our study overall 66 % samples showed a DNA yield. Cent percent results were obtained for samples studied at pH 4 and pH 7 whereas samples stored at pH 10 showed 10% result. Sea water and buried samples showed 80 % and 40 % results respectively. Conclusion: PCR was found to be an effective method for blood group determination for teeth stored at various environmental conditions. Thus our study emphasizes that the blood grouping of tooth pulp by PCR method can be used for relative identification of individuals which will be of immense value to forensic dentistry.