Developing a simple method to process bone samples prior to DNA isolation

Bone tissue is often used for recovering DNA samples for the purpose of human identification. However, the initial cleaning and sampling of the bone specimen is a labor-intensive and time-consuming step, which must be completed prior to isolating DNA. Thus, it is difficult to adapt the current method for automation. To address this issue, we have developed a simple processing method using a trypsin treatment prior to DNA isolation. The use of the trypsin-based procedure potentially reduces the amount of labor required by a physical method such as sanding. By incubating samples with the trypsin solution, the soft tissue and outer surface of the bone fragment samples are removed. The processed bone fragment or a portion of the fragment can then be used for DNA isolation.