Genetic analyses such as STR-typing are routinely used for identification purposes in forensic casework. Although genotyping techniques only require a minimum amount of DNA to provide a genetic profile, DNA quality differs not only between but also within tissues during ongoing decomposition. Initiated by a recent case where, due to the constitution of the body, preferred tissue was not available or only resulted in a partial and not usable DNA profile, the analysis of intervertebral discs as a source of DNA was considered. As the analysis of this tissue resulted in a high quality DNA profile a further study was performed in which thirty intervertebral discs dissected from bodies in different stages of decay were analyzed. All samples yielded good quality DNA in quantities suitable for STR-based amplification with no or only low degradation indices, resulting in complete genetic profiles. These results demonstrate the robustness of human intervertebral disc tissue as a source of DNA for molecular identification purposes.

诸如 STR 分型之类的遗传分析通常用于法医案件的识别目的。尽管基因分型技术只需要最少量的 DNA 即可提供遗传图谱，但在正在进行的分解过程中，DNA 质量不仅在组织之间存在差异，而且在组织内部也存在差异。由最近的一个案例开始，由于身体的构造，首选组织不可用或仅导致部分和不可用的 DNA 谱，考虑将椎间盘作为 DNA 来源进行分析。由于对该组织的分析产生了高质量的 DNA 谱，因此进行了进一步的研究，其中分析了从处于不同腐烂阶段的身体解剖的 30 个椎间盘。所有样品都产生了适合基于 STR 扩增的高质量 DNA，没有或只有低降解指数，从而产生完整的遗传图谱。这些结果证明了人类椎间盘组织作为用于分子鉴定目的的 DNA 来源的稳健性。