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Eye and hair color prediction of human DNA recovered from Lucilia sericata larvae

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Abstract

Forensic entomological evidence is employed to estimate minimum postmortem interval (PMImin), location, and identification of fly samples or human remains. Traditional forensic DNA analysis (i.e., STR, mitochondrial DNA) has been used for human identification from the larval gut contents. Forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP), predicting human appearance from DNA-based crime scene evidence, has become an established approach in forensic genetics in the past years. In this study, we aimed to recover human DNA from Lucilia sericata (Meigen 1826) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) gut contents and predict the eye and hair color of individuals using the HIrisPlex system. Lucilia sericata larvae and reference blood samples were collected from 30 human volunteers who were under maggot debridement therapy. The human DNA was extracted from the crop contents and quantified. HIrisPlex multiplex analysis was performed using the SNaPshot minisequencing procedure. The HIrisPlex online tool was used to assess the prediction of the eye and hair color of the larval and reference samples. We successfully genotyped 25 out of 30 larval samples, and the most SNP genotypes (87.13%) matched those of reference samples, though some alleles were dropped out, producing partial profiles. The prediction of the eye colors was accurate in 17 out of 25 larval samples, and only one sample was misclassified. Fourteen out of 25 larval samples were correctly predicted for hair color, and eight were misclassified. This study shows that SNP analysis of L. sericata gut contents can be used to predict eye and hair color of a corpse.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to the individuals who volunteered to give larval and saliva samples. The authors would like to thank Sumeyye Zulal Simsek for technical help during the laboratory experiments.

Funding

The Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Scientific Research and Projects Unit funded our research (Project No: 35843). ED and OB have received this grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forensic Sciences and Legal Medicine, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Adli Tıp ve Adli Bilimler Enstitüsü, Büyükçekmece Yerleşkesi, 34500 Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, Turkey

    Emre Deymenci, Gonul Filoglu & Ozlem Bulbul

  2. Department of Medical Services and Techniques, Vocational School of Health Services, Istanbul Gelisim University, 34310, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ilksen Sarı O

  3. Department of Medical Microbiology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey

    Erdal Polat

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  1. Emre Deymenci
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  4. Erdal Polat
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  5. Ozlem Bulbul
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Contributions

Emre Deymenci, Gonul Filoglu, Erdal Polat, and Ozlem Bulbul contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Emre Deymenci and İlksen Sarı O. The first draft of the manuscript was written Emre Deymenci, İlksen Sarı O, and Ozlem Bulbul, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ozlem Bulbul.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty (24.05.2021, number 96774), and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Deymenci, E., Sarı O, I., Filoglu, G. et al. Eye and hair color prediction of human DNA recovered from Lucilia sericata larvae. Int J Legal Med 138, 627–637 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-023-03112-z

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