Recovery and identification of DNA from human skeletal remains dating back to World War II

Our work involved the extraction, PCR amplification, and the definition of the genetic profile of 5 skeletal elements, dating back to World War II and delivered to the laboratory by two associations of victims of World War II operating in the province of Ferrara. The bone material was preliminarily tract by the application of a method set up at the laboratory, in order to clean up the outer surface from dirt, inhibitory molecules and exogenous DNA. From every bone tested, it was collected a sample, represented by 5g of soft tissue, for DNA extraction and the subsequent PCR amplification preparing replicated samples as required by the guidelines of degraded DNA. The analysis of the electrophoretic patterns revealed five partial genetic profiles (6-10 STR markers), referring to five unrelated male individuals. The PCR amplification, after our DNA extraction protocol, was successful from each of the 5 bone samples investigated. The results demonstrate that extraction of DNA from ancient bone samples with our approach increases the success rate of PCR amplification. The analytical results obtained after our analyses can be used for comparative studies aimed at the return of skeletal remains to any close relatives still living. Our results show that more than 6 decades after the end of the World War II, DNA analysis may significantly contribute to the identification of the remains from that period.