A Quantitative Method to Assess DNA Extraction Efficiency

Published

March 15, 2026

Author(s)

Lauren Mullen, Erica Romsos, Peter Vallone

Abstract

A minimum amount of extracted and purified DNA is required for a forensic short tandem repeat (STR) DNA profile to be obtained from biological samples. In most cases, this amount ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 nanograms. Certain sample types encountered in forensic laboratories may present challenges concerning obtaining the minimum amount of extracted DNA. These challenges can be compounded when an extraction results in low efficiency, meaning that a large percentage of the genetic material necessary for the downstream forensic DNA typing is lost during the extraction process. A variety of studies evaluating the impact of extraction methods on the ability to obtain a complete DNA profile are available. In these studies, extraction efficiency is quantified and evaluated by whether a complete STR profile was produced from the extracted samples. However, this study's focus was on the amount of cellular DNA present pre- versus post-extraction to quantify how much is recovered during the extraction process as a means to provide a benchmark of average efficiencies attained from two commonly employed methodologies. Additionally, the data obtained was used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the overall recovery of extraction with both silica spin columns and magnetic resin-based beads for three different sample types at five known starting amounts of DNA. Results have shown significant differences between the two protocols when used for the extraction of human fibroblast cells and whole blood samples. Furthermore, both protocols were found to produce more variable results at low starting amounts from all sources

Citation

Journal of Forensic Sciences

Volume

71

Issue

3

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.70302

Local Download

Keywords

DNA Extraction, Digital PCR, Extraction Efficiency

Citation

Mullen, L. , Romsos, E. and Vallone, P. (2026), A Quantitative Method to Assess DNA Extraction Efficiency, Journal of Forensic Sciences, [online], https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.70302, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960273 (Accessed May 21, 2026)

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