title: Forensic discrimination of vaginal epithelia by DNA methylation analysis through pyrosequencing.
abstract: The accurate identification of body fluids from crime scenes can aid in the discrimination between criminal and innocent intent. This research aimed to determine if the levels of DNA methylation in the locus PFN3A could be used to discriminate vaginal epithelia from other body fluids. In this work we bisulfite-modified and amplified DNA samples from blood, saliva, semen, and vaginal epithelia using primers for PFN3A. Through pyrosequencing we were able to show that vaginal epithelia present distinct methylation levels when compared to other body fluids. Mixtures of different body fluids present methylation values that correlate with single-source body fluid samples and the primers for PFN3A are specific for primates. This report successfully demonstrated that the analysis of methylation in the PFN3A locus can be used for vaginal epithelia discrimination in forensic samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.|Faculty of Biosciences, Laboratory of Human and Molecular Genetics, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Deborah S B S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Justice, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.
authors.forename: Kuppareddi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Balamurugan
authors.affiliation: DNA Laboratory, Broward County Sheriff's Office, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biosciences, Laboratory of Human and Molecular Genetics, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clarice S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Alho
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA. mccordb@fiu.edu.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCord
mesh_terms: D001826:Body Fluids / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D057890:Epigenomics; D004848:Epithelium / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D014621:Vagina / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Forensic science; Pyrosequencing; Vaginal epithelia