Universität zu Köln

Sirker, Miriam ORCID: 0000-0003-2979-4257, Schneider, Peter M. ORCID: 0000-0003-0744-2349 and Gomes, Iva ORCID: 0000-0002-1593-301X (2016). A 17-month time course study of human RNA and DNA degradation in body fluids under dry and humid environmental conditions. Int. J. Legal Med., 130 (6). S. 1431 - 1439. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1437-1596

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Abstract

Blood, saliva, and semen are some of the forensically most relevant biological stains commonly found at crime scenes, which can often be of small size or challenging due to advanced decay. In this context, it is of great importance to possess reliable knowledge about the effects of degradation under different environmental conditions and to use appropriate methods for retrieving maximal information from limited sample amount. In the last decade, RNA analysis has been demonstrated to be a reliable approach identifying the cell or tissue type of an evidentiary body fluid trace. Hence, messenger RNA (mRNA) profiling is going to be implemented into forensic casework to supplement the routinely performed short tandem repeat (STR) analysis, and therefore, the ability to co-isolate RNA and DNA from the same sample is a prerequisite. The objective of this work was to monitor and compare the degradation process of both nucleic acids for human blood, saliva, and semen stains at three different concentrations, exposed to dry and humid conditions during a 17-month time period. This study also addressed the question whether there are relevant differences in the efficiency of automated, magnetic bead-based single DNA or RNA extraction methods compared to a manually performed co-extraction method using silica columns. Our data show that mRNA, especially from blood and semen, can be recovered over the entire time period surveyed without compromising the success of DNA profiling; mRNA analysis indicates to be a robust and reliable technique to identify the biological source of aged stain material. The co-extraction method appears to provide mRNA and DNA of sufficient quantity and quality for all different forensic investigation procedures. Humidity and accompanied mold formation are detrimental to both nucleic acids.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Sirker, Miriam UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-2979-4257 UNSPECIFIED Schneider, Peter M. UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-0744-2349 UNSPECIFIED Gomes, Iva UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-1593-301X UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-257796
DOI:	10.1007/s00414-016-1373-9
Journal or Publication Title:	Int. J. Legal Med.
Volume:	130
Number:	6
Page Range:	S. 1431 - 1439
Date:	2016
Publisher:	SPRINGER
Place of Publication:	NEW YORK
ISSN:	1437-1596
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language COLLABORATIVE EDNAP EXERCISE; RNA/DNA CO-ANALYSIS; MESSENGER-RNA; SEMEN STAINS; FORENSIC IMPLICATIONS; SALIVA STAINS; BLOOD STAINS; IDENTIFICATION; BLOODSTAINS; SAMPLES Multiple languages Medicine, Legal Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/25779