This book chapter examines the development of a microbial clock for estimating postmortem interval, and discusses the remaining knowledge gaps and hurdles to technology adoption.
Estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) of human remains is important in criminal investigations. Microbes play an important role in the process of decomposition and can provide clues about the time elapsed since death. Host-associated and environmental microbial communities have been shown to undergo succession in a predictable, clock-like manner during decomposition. High-throughput DNA sequencing can be used to inexpensively and rapidly track these microbial community shifts, and machine learning techniques can use these data to develop predictive models. In this chapter, the authors discuss the development of a microbial clock for estimating PMI, as well as remaining knowledge gaps and hurdles to technology adoption. (Published Abstract Provided)
Downloads
Similar Publications
- Development of a Nuclear SNP Probe Capture Assay for Massively Parallel Sequencing of Degraded and Mixed DNA Samples
- New perspectives on THCA decarboxylation and accurate GC–MS quantitation of Total THC in Cannabis using analyte protectants
- Testing Reliability of the Computational Age-At-Death Estimation Methods between Five Observers Using Three-Dimensional Image Data of the Pubic Symphysis