Hi Dhanashree,

We are currently attempting this method ourselves. Our challenge has been obtaining sufficient yield of host DNA to perform the parentage analysis. We are leaning towards an enrichment step.

Dear Dhanashree, It is possible,

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12353586

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14535665

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16078481

Good luck!

yes , but it's so hard to extract DNA with high purity

Thank you Vladimir for the links!

Thanks Brendon! Keep me posted about the progress..

Thanks Vladimir! and I agree with Amir, it could be questioned because of the difficulty of extracting enough, plus all the other DNA present in the sample.......

Dear Gary, modern forensic HID kits (from Promega or LifeTechnologies) are very sensitive. 100-200 pg of DNA is enough for identification. And these systems have human specificity.

Vladimir, I agree, however, this being not for research, but actually data being used to determine "parental lineage" it would be much easier to use another source of human DNA to convince a jury (or a worried person)

Vladimir, so the links you sent were specifically for DNA extraction from HUMAN samples. Are there such kits/methods available for non-human animals--say birds or reptiles?

Dhanashree, I don`t know such DNA extraction kits - for animal fecal samples. In my opinion, DNA extraction kit from the links are not human specific, as general structure of human cell is similar as birds or reptiles.

I have used the Powersoil kit from MoBio to extract DNA from mouse feces.  By using qPCR to compare the "fecal" DNA with pure mouse DNA, I find that the "fecal" DNA includes about 10% mouse genomic content.  I think this is probably typical of all mammals. ( Note that the Powersoil protocol includes specific steps to remove the PCR inhibitors present in feces.)

It is possible, check attached manual. You just use gentle lysis and omit step for disrupting microorganisms (bead-beating, enzymatic). You will have some bacterial gDNA (mostly Gram-negative) but human DNA will be enriched.

Try the new PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification Kit – it has protocols for misc samples, including stool- and you can primarily isolate the host DNA, with one specific and fast protocol http://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/A29790?ICID=search-product. There is also an FDA approved test for colon cancer- where they rapidly isolate and test human DNA from stool (launched about a year ago)

I know that it has been a long time since the last entry here. We are currently facing this problem in the lab so I would like to ask you all how do you solve the situation? Did the PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification Kit work better than the EZNA one? We used to extract with DNA Power Soil but as far as we know it is currently disscontinued. So, please, could you update us about the best-reproducible method to obtain good quality genomic DNA from fecal samples?

Thanks a lot!

Hello, I am interested in looking at paternity in chicks that are really small and often get predated when they are large enough to take blood from. Therefore I am looking for alternative to obtain DNA before they are predated. I was curious if fecals worked and if anyone thinks it would be useful my case.