The utility of dust as a forensic provenancing material. Exploring collection methods and detection limits for environmental DNA, elemental and mineralogical analyses of dust samples

<div>Environmental DNA (eDNA), elemental and mineralogical analyses of soil have been shown to be specific to their source material, prompting consideration of the use of dust for forensic provenancing. Dust is ubiquitous in the environment and is easily transferred to items belonging to a person of interest, making dust analysis an ideal tool in forensic casework. The advent of Next Generation Sequencing technologies means that metabarcoding of eDNA can uncover microbial, fungal, and even plant genetic fingerprints in dust particles. Combining this with elemental and mineralogical compositions offers multiple, complementary lines of evidence for tracing the origin of an unknown dust sample. This is particularly pertinent when recovering dust from a person of interest to ascertain where they may have travelled. Prior to proposing dust as a forensic trace material, however, the optimum sampling protocols and detection limits need to be established to place parameters around its utility in this context. We tested several approaches to collecting dust from different materials and determined the lowest quantity of dust that could be analysed for eDNA, geochemistry and mineralogy, whilst still yielding results capable of distinguishing between sites. We found that fungal eDNA profiles could be obtained from multiple sample types and that tape lifts were the optimum collection method for discriminating between sites. We successfully recovered both fungal and bacterial eDNA profiles down to 3&nbsp;mg of dust (the lowest tested quantity) and recovered elemental and mineralogical compositions for all tested sample quantities. We show that dust can be reliably recovered from different sample types, using different sampling techniques, and that fungal, bacterial, and elemental and mineralogical profiles, can be generated from small sample quantities, highlighting the utility of dust as a forensic provenance material.</div>


<b>Citation:</b>

Nicole R. Foster, Belinda Martin, Jurian Hoogewerff, Michael G. Aberle, Patrice de Caritat, Paul Roffey, Robert Edwards, Arif Malik, Priscilla Thwaites, Michelle Waycott, Jennifer Young, The utility of dust for forensic intelligence: Exploring collection methods and detection limits for environmental DNA, elemental and mineralogical analyses of dust samples, <i>Forensic Science International </i>, Volume 344, 2023, 111599, ISSN 0379-0738, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2023.111599. ISSN 0379-0738,

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Identification info

Date (Creation)
2022-09-01T16:00:00
Date (Publication)
2023-02-16T23:10:37
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147184

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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Foster, N.R.

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Author

Martin, B.

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Author

Hoogewerff, J.

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Author

Aberle, M.G.

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Author

de Caritat, P.

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Author

Roffey, P.

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Author

Edwards, R.

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Author

Malik, A.

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Author

Waycott, M.

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Young, J.

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Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

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Forensic Science International

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Volume 344 (2023) 111599

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Publication in scientific journal (Forensic Science International)

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Completed
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Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Main, P.

 MEG Internal Contact
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  • Geoscientific information

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As needed

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Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

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Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

  • soil

Keywords

  • dust

Keywords

  • forensic

Keywords

  • provenance

Keywords

  • intelligence

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

  • Soil sciences not elsewhere classified

  • Inorganic geochemistry

  • Mineralogy and crystallography

  • Environmental geography

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  • Published_External

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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CC-BY

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4.0

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© 2023 The Authors

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2018-11-01T00:00:00
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Unclassified
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Australian Government Security Classification System

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Was informed by
Title

Forensic soil provenancing in an urban/suburban setting: a sequential multivariate approach

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144564

Citation identifier
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Associated resource

Association Type
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Forensic soil provenancing in an urban/suburban setting: a simultaneous multivariate approach

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145461

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Journal article for submission to Forensic Science International

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Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

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English
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Main, P.

 MEG Internal Contact

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Journal Article / Conference Paper

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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/6de1e7af-f0a4-4682-9baa-1853282a406c

Date info (Creation)
2022-11-07T03:16:18
Date info (Revision)
2022-11-07T03:16:18

Metadata standard

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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

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N
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E
W


Keywords

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
Environmental geography Inorganic geochemistry Mineralogy and crystallography Soil sciences not elsewhere classified

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