Robust and reliable DNA typing of soils

Abstract Soil is encountered commonly in forensic investigations yet rarely forms part of the examination process. This may be due to a lack of a robust and reliable DNA typing method preventing comparison of data from material taken from the clothing of a suspect or victim, or from a crime scene, reference or alibi location. We have developed a method that provides reproducible metagenomic profiles from soil samples taken from three distant sites at four time points throughout the year. The whole biota of the soil samples, as small as 50mg, was targeted in the proposed approach highlighting the advantages of DNA typing based on High-Throughput DNA Sequencing. Three distinct clusters of microbial assemblages were formed that relates to the collection site of the samples regardless of the time of year collected, thus allowing reliable conclusions to be drawn.