DNA metabarcoding of forensic mycological samples

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences

Andrea Berti¹  Filippo Barni¹  Anna Anselmo¹  Elisabetta De Vittori²  Teresa Rinaldi³  Saverio Giampaoli⁴  Giovanni Vanni Frajese⁴  Kevin Charles Miranda⁵  Daniel Brami⁵  Arnold Liao⁵  Marina Baldi⁶ 

[1] Carabinieri, Reparto Investigazioni Scientifiche di Roma, Viale di Tor di Quinto, 119, 00191, Rome, Italy;Central Laboratory of National DNA Database, Department of Penitentiary Administration, Ministry of Justice, via del Casale di San Basilio 168, 00156, Rome, Italy;Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy;Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Piazza Lauro De Bosis, 6, 00135, Rome, Italy;Illumina, Inc., 5200 Illumina Way, 92122, San Diego, CA, USA;Legal Genetics - Forensic Consulting, Via F. Cesi, 21, 00193, Rome, Italy;

关键词: NGS;    Fungi;    Data analysis;    Metabarcoding;    Forensic science;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s41935-021-00221-x

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDNA metabarcoding and massive parallel sequencing are valuable molecular tools for the characterization of environmental samples. In forensic sciences, the analysis of the sample’s fungal population can be highly informative for the estimation of post-mortem interval, the ascertainment of deposition time, the identification of the cause of death, or the location of buried corpses. Unfortunately, metabarcoding data analysis often requires strong bioinformatic capabilities that are not widely available in forensic laboratories.ResultsThe present paper describes the adoption of a user-friendly cloud-based application for the identification of fungi in typical forensic samples. The samples have also been analyzed through the QIIME pipeline, obtaining a relevant data concordance on top genus classification results (88%).ConclusionsThe availability of a user-friendly application that can be run without command line activities will increase the popularity of metabarcoding fungal analysis in forensic samples.

【 授权许可】

CC BY