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The error was found during an extensive review undertaken after the office learned that one of its laboratory technicians had missed detecting DNA evidence in at least 26 rape cases — an embarrassing oversight for an agency at the forefront of forensic technology, but one that the office said at the time was isolated and unprecedented.

The new discovery has led to the firing of the office's deputy director of quality assurance in the lab and the suspension of the director of the office's department of forensic biology, Dr. Mechthild Prinz.

The suspension of Dr. Prinz was made "pending further review of her management practices," according to a statement from Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office. The name of the deputy director could not be immediately determined.

In some 55 instances, the medical examiner's office had entered DNA samples taken from crime scenes into a database maintained by the city, but did not do the same for the state database, according to the statement, which did not account for how the lapse occurred.

Although the city is able to compare DNA it has collected from suspects against samples taken from local crime scenes, the city's database is much smaller than the statewide database, which is linked to a national network of other states' records as well. As a result, the 55 samples were not searched against a larger pool of profiles of convicted offenders.

Once the 55 DNA profiles were uploaded, there was apparently one instance of a DNA hit. Ms. Borakove said that a DNA sample from a 2006 burglary resulted in an "investigative lead" after it was entered into the statewide system. The remaining 54 samples did not supply any new evidence for a criminal prosecution, she said.

"While 55 represents a minuscule percentage of the overall total of 25,000 profiles entered since 2000 (when the system was implemented), all profiles must be uploaded and the failure is not acceptable for a world-class DNA lab that prides itself on accuracy and attention to detail," the statement said.

Ms. Borakove said that there was a delay between when the cases were first discovered and when the executive management of the medical examiner's office was alerted to the lapses.

But Ms. Borakove said that the office would retain an outside expert to review the lab's management and that several new procedures had been put in place. Those procedures include requiring supervisors to be present in evidence exam rooms at all times, as well as the automatic uploading of all eligible DNA profiles to the state database.

The latest disclosure comes as the medical examiner's office is concluding a nearly two-year review of its handling of 800 rape cases. That review began after supervisors discovered that a longtime technician had overlooked DNA evidence on items from at least 26 rape kits, incorrectly reporting that they contained no relevant evidence. In addition, the technician is believed to have misplaced 16 pieces of evidence, returning them to the wrong rape kit, according to documents describing the office's review.

On Monday, a City Council hearing is scheduled to examine the former technician's errors.

"We want to know why it happened, what they have done to fix the problem, and how quality control procedures have been improved," a spokesman for Speaker Christine C. Quinn said.