A comparative study of two extraction methods routinely used for DNA recovery from simulated post coital samples

In sexual assault cases DNA profiling of spermatozoa can be of critical importance. Most methods use differential extraction of the spermatozoa to separate it from the female component. Here we have compared two commercially available differential extraction methods, the QIAamp^® DNA mini kit (Qiagen) and Differex™ with the DNA IQ^® System (Promega). Simulated postcoital samples were prepared using buccal cells from a female donor and spermatozoa from three male donors. A dilution series ranging from neat semen to a 1:1500 dilution (semen:dH₂O) was prepared and mixed with an equal volume of saliva from a female donor. Extraction efficiency was assessed using DNA concentration measured with NanoDrop 2000 and Quantifiler^® Human DNA Quantification Kit and the profile count of full, partial and mixed DNA profiles generated using SGM Plus and PowerPlex^® ESI 17. Statistical analysis was carried out using Randomisation in R, which is a robust model making no assumption of the distribution of data. Based on the amount of DNA extracted and the types of profiles no significant difference in the performance of the two extraction kits was seen. However, the processing time taken with the Differex™ System was about half than that of the QIAamp^® DNA mini kit and involved fewer liquid transfers.