title: Sex Determination Based on Raman Spectroscopy of Saliva Traces for Forensic Purposes.
abstract: The forensic analysis of body fluids has made great strides in recent years. Body fluids can easily be identified, and DNA analysis can be used to link a stain found at a crime scene to a specific person. When no reference DNA profile is available and the recovered DNA does not yield a match in a database, it would be incredibly useful if the evidence could still provide investigators with useful information. Biocatalytic and immunoassays can be used to determine a donor's sex, race, and other phenotypic characteristics. However, these tests depend on chemical reactions and are destructive to the sample. Here, we used Raman spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis to develop a nondestructive technique that could be used at a crime scene to determine the sex of a saliva donor. Our internally cross-validated classification model correctly identified 44 (92%) of the 48 donors used for model training. Subsequent external validation correctly identified 11 (92%) of the 12 donors saved for testing. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the value of Raman spectroscopy as a forensic tool, and indicates that it can be used to elucidate phenotypic information about a body fluid donor. Future studies will expand to other body fluids and additional donor characteristics, such as race and age.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University at Albany , 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222, United States.
authors.forename: Claire K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Muro
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University at Albany , 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222, United States.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Souza Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, University at Albany , 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222, United States.
authors.forename: Igor K
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6504-531X
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Lednev
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004247:DNA