title: Microarray screening and qRT-PCR evaluation of microRNA markers for forensic body fluid identification.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of small (∼22 nucleotides) noncoding RNAs that regulate diverse biological processes at the post-transcriptional level. MiRNAs have great potential for forensic body fluid identification because they are expressed in a tissue specific manner and are less prone to degradation. Previous studies reported several miRNAs as body fluid specific, but there are few overlaps among them. Here, we used a genome-wide miRNA microarray containing over 1700 miRNAs to assay 20 body fluid samples and identify novel miRNAs useful for forensic body fluid identification. Based on Shannon Entropy and Q-statistics, 203 miRNAs specifically expressed in each body fluid were first selected. Eight miRNAs were then selected as novel forensically relevant miRNA markers: miR-484 and miR-182 for blood, miR-223 and miR-145 for saliva, miR-2392 and miR-3197 for semen, and miR-1260b and miR-654-5p for vaginal secretions. When the eight selected miRNAs were evaluated in 40 additional body fluid samples by qRT-PCR, they showed high sensitivity and specificity for the identification of the target body fluid. We suggest that the eight miRNAs may be candidates for developing an effective molecular assay for forensic body fluid identification.
authors.affiliation: Medical Genomics Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Department of Functional Genomics, University of Science of Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Lyul
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Seong-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Oh-Hyung
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Han-chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jin-young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun Ha
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Seok
authors.forename: Woo Sik
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seung-Hwan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yong Sung
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kwang-Man
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Seon-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D001826:Body Fluids / Q000737:chemistry*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods*; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Body fluid identification; Forensic; MicroRNA