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International journal of legal medicine
Nov, 2019;133 (6): 1629-1640.

Analysis of RNA in the estimation of post-mortem interval: a review of current evidence.

Salvatore Scrivano, Matteo Sanavio, Pamela Tozzo, Luciana Caenazzo
Author Information
  1. Salvatore Scrivano: Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35121, Padua, Italy. salvoscrivano@gmail.com.
  2. Matteo Sanavio: Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35121, Padua, Italy.
  3. Pamela Tozzo: Department of Molecular Medicine, Laboratory of Forensic Genetics, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35121, Padua, Italy.
  4. Luciana Caenazzo: Department of Molecular Medicine, Laboratory of Forensic Genetics, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, 35121, Padua, Italy.
PMID: 31317317 DOI: 10.1007/s00414-019-02125-x

Abstract

Post-mortem interval (PMI) determination is one of the most important issues in forensic sciences. In the past, forensic scientists provided different approaches (physical, chemical, and entomological) for the estimation of PMI without success.However, advances in molecular biology over the last two decades have allowed us to assess the time-dependent degradation of biological markers (e.g., proteins, DNA, and RNA). Thus, the aim of the manuscript is to provide a review of the recent progress in the estimation of PMI using molecular biology methods, mainly focusing on the potential usefulness of RNA markers. To this end, 29 studies have been systematically reviewed, each one chosen according to specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. The selected studies evaluated the contribution of endogenous reference genes in different biological samples in order to determine the PMI based on post-mortem RNA degradation as a function of other influencing factors such as time, cause of death, and environmental conditions.

Keywords

Forensic genetics Mathematical model Molecular biology Post-mortem interval mRNA

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MeSH Term

Actins
Animals
Biomarkers
Forensic Sciences
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases
Humans
Models, Theoretical
Postmortem Changes
RNA
RNA Stability

Chemicals

Actins
Biomarkers
RNA
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases
Journal Article Review
Article has an altmetric score of 17

Word Cloud

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