Forensic Discrimination of Vaginal Epithelia by DNA Methylation Analysis Through Pyrosequencing

• NCJ Number: 251254
• Date Published: June 2016
• Author(s): J. Antunes, D.S.B.S. Silva, K. Balamurugan, G. Duncan, C. S. Alho, B. McCord
• Award: Body fluid Identification using epigenetic methylation markers and pyrosequencing

Annotation

This research examined whether the levels of DNA methylation in the locus PFN3A could be used to discriminate vaginal epithelia from other body fluids.

Abstract

The accurate identification of body fluids from crime scenes can aid in discriminating between offender and victim fluids found at the scene. Researchers bisulfite-modified and amplified DNA samples from blood, saliva, semen, and vaginal epithelia, using primers for PFN3A. Using pyrosequencing, they showed that vaginal epithelia present distinct methylation levels when compared to other body fluids. Mixtures of different body fluids present methylation values that correlate with single-source body fluid samples, and the primers for PFN3A are specific for primates. This project successfully demonstrated that the analysis of methylation in the PFN3A locus can be used for vaginal epithelia discrimination in forensic samples. (Publisher abstract modified)