ABSTRACT
Human aging is associated with epigenetic modification of the genome. DNA methylation at cytosines appears currently as the best characterised modification that occurs during the mammalian lifetime. Such methylation changes at regulatory region can provide insights to track contributor age for criminal investigation. The EpiTect Methyl II PCR system (QIAGEN) was used to compare methylation levels of CpG islands in the promoter regions of a number of age related genes, of which four successfully showed changes across the lifespan (NPTX2, KCNQ1DN, GRIA2 and TRIM58). This technique is based on the detection of remaining input genome after digestion with a methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme. This study examined DNA specimens from 80 female subjects of various ages (18-91 years) obtained from blood, using primers designed to flank the studied gene loci. The data obtained from DNA methylation quantification showed successful discrimination among volunteered ages. Overall, the difference between predicted and real age was about 11 years and absolute mean differences (AMD) was only 7.2 years error. We suggest the EpiTect system can be used as fast and simple innovative tool in future forensic age estimation.
Subject(s)
Aging/genetics , CpG Islands/genetics , DNA Methylation , Promoter Regions, Genetic , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , C-Reactive Protein/genetics , Female , Humans , KCNQ1 Potassium Channel/genetics , Middle Aged , Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics , Receptors, AMPA/genetics , Tripartite Motif Proteins/genetics , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/genetics , Young AdultABSTRACT
Mammalian ageing features biological attrition evident at cellular, genetic and epigenetic levels. Mutation of mitochondrial DNA, and nuclear DNA methylation changes are well established correlates of ageing. The methylation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a new and incompletely described phenomenon with unknown biological control and significance. Here we describe the bisulphite sequencing of mtDNA from 82 individuals aged 18-91 years. We detected low and variable levels of mtDNA methylation at 54 of 133 CpG sites interrogated. Regression analysis of methylation levels at two CpG sites (M1215 and M1313) located within the 12S ribosomal RNA gene showed an inverse correlation with subject age suggesting their utility as epigenetic markers of ageing.
Subject(s)
Aging/genetics , CpG Islands/genetics , DNA Methylation , DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study compares two novel swabs (forensiX) with a standard cotton swab (EUROTUBE) for the collection of saliva stains on glass slide for STR analysis. ForensiX collection tubes are a standard cotton swab in an "active drying" tube, where swab sample is soon dried by its innovative tube surface of the wall. The other is forensiX Nylon Flocked Swab. The study is two phases: The first "phase" assesses swab types regarding to retrieve ability of saliva. The second "phase" compares the drying ability of each swab to assess how crime samples would fare when left in storage. The main result showed that "active drying" is effective to store swabbed sample. The forensiX swabs generally are effective for higher (twofold to fourfold) DNA yield compared to delta lab swab (around 750 pg and 250 pg from 0.5 µL of saliva), respectively. These findings demonstrate the importance of drying performance in the preservation of DNA and swab selection.
