In the realm of forensic investigation, messenger RNA (mRNA) is a good source for specimen analysis, owing to tissue-specific expression patterns for many transcripts. Thus, differentiation of bodily fluids collected at a crime scene is possible if the proper target mRNA is identifiable and detectable using molecular methods. With the analysis of menstrual blood evidence, for example, the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family of genes encodes proteins involved in extracellular matrix breakdown during tissue remodeling, and in particular MMP11 and MMP7 mRNA have proven useful for forensic blood evidence analysis. Nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) is a highly sensitive RNA transcription-based amplification method used to detect gene expression. As an emerging real-time technology, NASBA holds promise as a tool to rapidly and sensitively amplify mRNA markers associated with the MMP genes to verify the presence of menstrual blood in a forensic sample, and has a number of advantages compared to reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The purpose of this review is to overview the current state of mRNA analysis in forensic evidence casework and to highlight areas of research, progress, and development in the near-term future that will lead to reduction of case evidence backlog in crime laboratories in developed countries.

No abstract