Effects of Hair Dyes on Sequence Analysis of Hair Mitochondrial DNA Hypervariable Region 1

This study investigated the effects of hair dyes on DNA sequence analysis, focusing on mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region 1. Samples from 40 Iraqi families were analyzed, with DNA extracted from both hair follicles and shafts using two methods: the Phenol-chloroform method and the prepFiler forensic DNA extraction kit. The Phenol-chloroform method successfully amplified DNA in 50% of samples with follicles and 20% with shafts, while the prepFiler kit achieved a 95% success rate with follicles but failed with shafts. The study found that dyed or henna-treated hair significantly affected sequence analysis results. The organic method was suitable for extracting DNA from hair shafts, especially in degraded samples, whereas the prepFiler kit was more effective for follicle-included samples.