Species Identification
What it is trying to solve?
A Species Identification test is available for the identification of biological material from humans or domestic animals. This test analyses the mitochondrial genome in order to detect the presence of Cattle, Sheep, Goat, Bird, Pig, Horse, Dog or Human DNA in a sample. It can be used on a range of sample types, such as blood or tissue, and is sensitive enough to handle samples that have been cooked or processed.
Features and benefits
The benefits of the Species ID test are wide ranging. The test is extremely beneficial in the fast identification of unknown biological material to determine if an unknown sample is human or animal. This test has been utilized by law enforcement agencies in cases were blood had been discovered and it needed to be identified as human or animal.
Testing is also available for a wide range of non-domestic species by cross-referencing DNA sequence information, discovered from an unidentified sample, against an online database (NCBI BLAST).
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This test has been used, successfully, by various governmental agencies investigating cases ranging from the illegal dumping of cattle blood in water to identifying whether a human or animal was injured in a hit and run.
Case Study
A consumer discovered a piece of meat in a drink product. The sample was then sent to our laboratory by the manufacturer, for species identification testing. The species identification test identified the unknown meat sample as bovine (beef).
A bloodstain collected from the front a vehicle in a criminal matter was sent to our laboratory for testing, in order to determine if the blood was human or whether it was possibly from a domestic animal. Results of DNA testing showed that the blood sample was in fact from a sheep.
Sample types
Samples for forensic testing may include, but are not limited to:
| Blood |
| Saliva |
| Semen |
| Faeces |
| Hair |
| Tissue/skin cells |
| Buccal (inner cheek) |
| Swabs |
*It is important to note that a result cannot always be guaranteed and is dependent upon the quality (age, condition) of the sample and/or the amount of available DNA.
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