Bone Marrow Transplants and DNA

Medical researchers in Munich discovered that a man's corpse had both male and female DNA markers. The explanation? The dead man had had a bone marrow transplant shortly before his death and the bone marrow donor was a woman. See Spiegel Online (October 19 2008) Rough English translation:

"We have never seen anything like this before," said DNA expert Katja Anslinger of the Institute for Legal Medicine, University of Munich. "This case should sensitize investigators and investigative officials to examine genetic traces more critically." Anslinger said that false identifications or false accusations can result if police officers who are seeking to identify a corpse or are conducting a crime investigation do not know there has been a bone marrow transplant.

My thanks to Prof. Lothar Phillips for pointing me to this news item.

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