Species identification of biological samples is widely used in such fields as forensic science and food industry. A variety of accurate and reliable methods have been developed in recent years. The current review shows common target genes and screening criteria suitable for species identification, and described various DNA-based molecular biology methods about species identification. Additionally, it discusses the future development of species identification combined with real-time PCR and sequencing technologies.
HU ZhenZHANG Su-huaWANG ZhengBIAN Ying-nanLI Cheng-tao
法医DNA分型经历了三代遗传标记的研究,短串联重复序列(short tandem repeat,STR)作为比较成熟的工具已被广泛运用于法医生物学鉴定中。进一步对人类基因组的探索,先后发现了单核苷酸多态性(single nucleotide polymorphism,SNP)、插入/缺失(Insertion/Deletion,InDel)等一系列遗传标记,而其中InDel作为新型的遗传标记,基本兼具各类遗传标记的优点,受到包括医学分子生物学和法医生物学在内各领域的广泛关注。本文就InDel的研究历史与相应的成果进行简单总结与回顾,以时间轴与研究目的为主要的分类指标,重点关注以多个InDel联合作为遗传标记的多重扩增系统(常染色体或X染色体)在法医生物学及人类学研究中的进展,并对今后该领域研究的方向与暨待解决的问题进行了综述。
Identifying the origin of body fluids left at a crime scene can give a significant insight into crime scene reconstruction by supporting a link between sample donors and actual criminal acts.However,the conventional body fluid identification methods are prone to various limitations,such as time consumption,intensive labor,nonparallel manner,varying degrees of sensitivity and limited specificity.Recently,the analysis of cell-specific messenger RNA expression(mRNA profiling)has been proposed to supplant conventional methods for body fluid identification.Since 2011,the collaborative exercises have been organized by the European DNA Profiling Group(EDNAP)in order to evaluate the robustness and reproducibility of mRNA profiling for body fluid identification.The major advantages of mRNA profiling,compared to the conventional methods,include higher sensitivity,greater specificity,the ability of detecting several body fluids in one multiplex reaction,and compatibility with current DNA extraction and analysis procedure.In the current review,we provided an overview of the present knowledge and detection methodologies of mRNA profiling for forensic body fluid identification and discussed its possible practical application to forensic casework.
WANG ZhengZHANG Su-huaZHOU DiZHAO Shu-minLI Cheng-tao