A very strong base could neautralize DNA and give off salt and water. Radiation also has some effects.
Why would it give off salt and water? Are you saying that this is a byproduct of a reaction with DNA? I don't know.
Indeed. When I make an RNA probe I add RNAse free DNAse to get rid of the DNA and keep the RNA. RNAse is highly specific for RNA. DNAse is specific for DNA.
Sorry. I was just thinking they're both produced by the pancreas to breakdown nucleic acids. I don't know enough.
Turn the room into a bag Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Iron out the plans & details, take the necessary precautions, and you just might get away with it. Not that I would ever recommend that, I was just researching this for a horror story I'm writing. Also, couldn't one use a sedative (or whatever they're called) to knock someone out, then give them a nice airpocket in their veins (I don't know if that actually works or not)? If it doesn't, then I'm sure theres plenty of ways to kill someone without having to make a mess. If I were going to kill someone, dismemberment would occur afterwards in a controlled environment (as well as all other stages of preparation). Then as river-wind suggested, in a tub use a strong base to get rid of flesh, then high concentration hydrochloric acid to take care of bones and other leftovers. Or Maybe you could use sodium hydroxide (as suggested by asguard), but I'm not sure what that stuff will eat through. Sodium hydroxide in conjunction with hydrochloric acid might be useable in disposing of a dismembered body, in a stainless steel sink (if the body is cut up into appropriately sized pieces). Or Dispose of the body somewhere, instead of putting it into a state where it would be more difficult to find/easier and less risky to dispose of (i.e down a drain). The only problem with this is that it entails more transportation of the body/parts. The only transportation which should occur is in discreetly bringing the body to the location where it will be prepared and disposed of. Transporting it again from that location increases risk, but then successfully disposing of it somewhere which is very unlikely to be discovered (i.e bottom of the ocean) would eliminate the risk of the previous location being discovered to be where the body was probably prepared, and it inevitably being discovered that the sink or bathtub and several chemicals (or whatever they're called) were used to dispose of the body.
Mitochondrial DNA is found in mammalian blood. duh. I use blood obtained from mosquito abdomens to identify what mammal they fed on. You can easily obtain mitochondrial DNA from blood which can be used to identify species, individual, or parentage. duh!
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Interesting job you have there. Is that a population study of an area's nighttime mammals?
I'd be interested to see just how degraded a sample could still be usable forensically. I have a few friends in forensics labs, but their work tends to be with relatively fresh or well-preserved samples. Dehydration probably counts for a lot.