Development of highly sensitive and specific mRNA multiplex system (XCYR1) for forensic human body fluids and tissues identification

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 3;9(7):e100123. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100123. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The identification of human body fluids or tissues through mRNA-based profiling is very useful for forensic investigations. Previous studies have shown mRNA biomarkers are effective to identify the origin of biological samples. In this study, we selected 16 tissue specific biomarkers to evaluate their specificities and sensitivities for human body fluids and tissues identification, including porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD), hemoglobin beta (HBB) and Glycophorin A (GLY) for circulatory blood, protamine 2 (PRM2) and transglutaminase 4 (TGM4) for semen, mucin 4 (MUC4) and human beta defensin 1(HBD1) for vaginal secretion, matrix metalloproteinases 7 and 11 (MMP7 and MMP11) for menstrual blood, keratin 4(KRT4) for oral mucosa, loricrin (LOR) and cystatin 6 (CST6) for skin, histatin 3(HTN3) for saliva, statherin (STATH) for nasal secretion, dermcidin (DCD) for sweat and uromodulin (UMOD) for urine. The above mentioned ten common forensic body fluids or tissues were used in the evaluation. Based on the evaluation, a reverse transcription (RT) PCR multiplex assay, XCYR1, which includes 12 biomarkers (i.e., HBB, GLY, HTN3, PRM2, KRT4, MMP11, MUC4, DCD, UMOD, MMP7, TGM4, and STATH) and 2 housekeeping genes [i.e., glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and 18SrRNA], was developed. This assay was further validated with real casework samples and mock samples (with both single source and mixture) and it was approved that XCYR1 is effective to identify common body fluids or tissues (i.e., circulatory blood, saliva, semen, vaginal secretion, menstrual blood, oral mucosa, nasal secretion, sweat and urine) in forensic casework samples.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biometric Identification / methods*
  • Blood Chemical Analysis
  • Body Fluids / chemistry*
  • Body Fluids / enzymology
  • Body Fluids / metabolism
  • Cats
  • Cattle
  • Chickens / blood
  • Dogs
  • Ducks / blood
  • Female
  • Fishes / blood
  • Forensic Genetics / methods*
  • Genetic Markers
  • Genotype
  • Goats / blood
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mouth Mucosa / chemistry
  • Mouth Mucosa / enzymology
  • Mouth Mucosa / metabolism
  • Organ Specificity
  • RNA, Messenger / chemistry*
  • Saliva / chemistry
  • Saliva / enzymology
  • Saliva / metabolism
  • Semen Analysis
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Sweat / chemistry
  • Sweat / enzymology
  • Sweat / metabolism
  • Urine / chemistry

Substances

  • Genetic Markers
  • RNA, Messenger

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from the P.R.C Ministry of Public Security for Scientific Research within the framework of the Forensic Genomics (No. 2012GABJC005). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.