Forensic entomology: Nuclear and mitochondrial markers for Diptera and Coleoptera identification

Abstract: Accurate identification of insect specimens is an essential step in forensic entomology. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) is the most used locus for insects molecular identification. However, other studies were done using other genetic markers, as mitochondrial cytochrome b (CytB) and ribossomal second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2). Also, it was shown that COI has some limitations in this field. In this work these three markers (COI, CytB and ITS2) were used, with the aim to infer about its suitability for insects with forensic relevance identification.DNA was extracted from insects found in carcasses of mammals with high homology with humans. COI, CytB and ITS2 regions were PCR amplified. Obtained sequences were matched in BLAST and BOLD-IDS online tools. Sequence divergences and phylogenetic analyses were performed for COI and CytB, using PAUP* v4.0b10 software. However, ITS2 analyses were not performed due to alignment problems.Maximum Parsimony and sequence divergences data for COI and CytB allowed the distinction of insect lineages, with good support. Despite analysis problems, ITS2 proved to be suitable for insects identification.
Source: Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research