Human Organ Tissue Identification by Targeted RNA Deep Sequencing to Aid the Investigation of Traumatic Injury

• NCJ Number: 253245
• Author(s): Erin Hanson; Jack Ballantyne
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 2 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-DN-BX-K019; 2016-DN-BX-0165
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: How it got there: associating individual DNA profiles with specific body fluids in mixtures using targeted digital gene expression and RNA-SNP identification; Human Organ Tissue Identification by Targeted RNA Deep Sequencing to Aid in the Investigation of Shooting and Other Traumatic Bodily Injury Incidents

Annotation

In this article, researchers report on their development of a prototype massively parallel sequencing (MPS) mRNA profiling assay for organ tissue identification that is designed to definitively identify 10 organ/tissue types using a targeted panel of 46 mRNA biomarkers.

Abstract

Molecular analysis of the RNA transcriptome from a putative tissue fragment should permit the assignment of its source to a specific organ, since each will exhibit a unique pattern of gene expression. Determination of the organ source of tissues from crime scenes may aid in shootings and other investigations. The organs and tissues identified with the tested prototype profiling assay included brain, lung, liver, heart, kidney, intestine, stomach, skeletal muscle, adipose, and trachea. The biomarkers were chosen after iterative specificity testing of numerous candidate genes in various tissue types. The assay is very specific, with little cross-reactivity with non-targeted tissue, and can detect RNA mixtures from different tissues. Researchers also demonstrated the ability of the assay to identify the tissue source of origin using a single blind study. (publisher abstract modified)