Dysbiosis in the Dead: Human Postmortem Microbiome Beta-Dispersion as an Indicator of Manner and Cause of Death

Kaszubinski, Sierra F.; Pechal, Jennifer L.; Smiles, Katelyn; Schmidt, Carl J.; Jordan, Heather R.; Meek, Mariah H.; Benbow, M. Eric

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.555347

Cited by 30 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The PMI and cause of death were associated with the alpha and beta diversity of the tissue microbial profiles (Lutz et al, 2020). Similar associations were observed previously where the beta dispersion differed significantly between anatomical body sites and causes and manners of death (Kaszubinski et al, 2020b). A different microbial signature was also observed in cardiovascular disease cases.…”

Section: Dysbiosis In Cause Of Deathsupporting

confidence: 83%

Microbiome in Death and Beyond: Current Vistas and Future Trends

et al. 2021

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Forensic medicine has, for a long time, been relying on biochemical, anthropologic, and histopathologic evidences in solving various investigations. However, depending on the method used, lengthy sample processing time, scanty sample, and less sensitivity and accuracy pervade these procedures. Accordingly, newer arenas such as the thanatomicrobiome have come forward to aid in its quandaries; furthermore, the parallel advances in genomic and proteomic techniques have complemented and are still emerging to be used in forensic experiments and investigations. Postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important aspects of medico-legal investigations. The current trend in PMI estimation is toward genomic analyses of autopsy samples. Similarly, determination of cause of death, although a domain of medical sciences, is being targeted as the next level of forensic casework. With the current trend in laboratory sciences moving to the discovery of newer disease-specific markers for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, the same is being explored for the determination of the cause of death by using techniques such as Real-Time PCR, DNA micro-array, to Next-Gen Sequencing. Establishing an individual’s biological profile has been done using medicolegal methods and anthropology as well as bar-bodies/Davidson bodies (gender determination); and in cases where the determination of age/gender is a challenge using morphological characteristics; the recent advances in the field of genomics and proteomics have played a significant role, e.g., use of mitochondrial DNA in age estimation and in maternity disputes. The major hurdle forensic medical research faces is the fact that most of the studies are conducted in animal models, which are often difficult to mimic in human and real-time scenarios. Additionally, the high accuracy required in criminal investigations to be used in a court of law as evidence has prevented these results to come out of the labs and be used to the optimum. The current review aims at giving a comprehensive and critical account of the various molecular biology techniques including “thanatogenomics,” currently being utilized in the veritable fields of forensic medicine.

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Section: Dysbiosis In Cause Of Deathsupporting

confidence: 83%

Microbiome in Death and Beyond: Current Vistas and Future Trends

et al. 2021

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“…In a recent study to determine how postmortem microbiome beta dispersion could be an additional forensic tool for predicting cause and manner of death in medicolegal investigations, a surprising finding demonstrated that the beta diversity significantly differed among body sites and causes and manners of death. For example, microorganisms detected in cardiovascular disease cases had significantly increased beta dispersion among all body locations (eyes, ears, nose, rectum, and mouth) ( Kaszubinski et al, 2020 ). Therefore, the increase in microorganisms in cardiovascular disease cases demonstrates dysbiosis in the dead, and that microbial signature variability may be measured through beta-dispersion calculations (e.g., Kruskal–Wallis).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Extended Postmortem Interval on Microbial Communities in Organs of the Human Cadaver

et al. 2020

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Human thanatomicrobiota studies have shown that microorganisms inhabit and proliferate externally and internally throughout the body and are the primary mediators of putrefaction after death. Yet little is known about the source and diversity of the thanatomicrobiome or the underlying factors leading to delayed decomposition exhibited by reproductive organs. The use of the V4 hypervariable region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences for taxonomic classification (“barcoding”) and phylogenetic analyses of human postmortem microbiota has recently emerged as a possible tool in forensic microbiology. The goal of this study was to apply a 16S rRNA barcoding approach to investigate variation among different organs, as well as the extent to which microbial associations among different body organs in human cadavers can be used to predict forensically important determinations, such as cause and time of death. We assessed microbiota of organ tissues including brain, heart, liver, spleen, prostate, and uterus collected at autopsy from criminal casework of 40 Italian cadavers with times of death ranging from 24 to 432 h. Both the uterus and prostate had a significantly higher alpha diversity compared to other anatomical sites, and exhibited a significantly different microbial community composition from non-reproductive organs, which we found to be dominated by the bacterial orders MLE1-12, Saprospirales, and Burkholderiales. In contrast, reproductive organs were dominated by Clostridiales, Lactobacillales, and showed a marked decrease in relative abundance of MLE1-12. These results provide insight into the observation that the uterus and prostate are the last internal organs to decay during human decomposition. We conclude that distinct community profiles of reproductive versus non-reproductive organs may help guide the application of forensic microbiology tools to investigations of human cadavers.

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“… Kaszubinski et al (2020) modeled beta-dispersion to test for manner and cause of death association using a microbiome data set of n = 188 postmortem cases (five body sites per case). The researchers demonstrated that beta-dispersion and demographic data could distinguish among manner and cause of death.…”

Section: Major Themes In the Forensic Microbiology Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic Applications of Microbiomics: A Review

et al. 2021

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The rise of microbiomics and metagenomics has been driven by advances in genomic sequencing technology, improved microbial sampling methods, and fast-evolving approaches in bioinformatics. Humans are a host to diverse microbial communities in and on their bodies, which continuously interact with and alter the surrounding environments. Since information relating to these interactions can be extracted by analyzing human and environmental microbial profiles, they have the potential to be relevant to forensics. In this review, we analyzed over 100 papers describing forensic microbiome applications with emphasis on geolocation, personal identification, trace evidence, manner and cause of death, and inference of the postmortem interval (PMI). We found that although the field is in its infancy, utilizing microbiome and metagenome signatures has the potential to enhance the forensic toolkit. However, many of the studies suffer from limited sample sizes and model accuracies, and unrealistic environmental settings, leaving the full potential of microbiomics to forensics unexplored. It is unlikely that the information that can currently be elucidated from microbiomics can be used by law enforcement. Nonetheless, the research to overcome these challenges is ongoing, and it is foreseeable that microbiome-based evidence could contribute to forensic investigations in the future.

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Dysbiosis in the Dead: Human Postmortem Microbiome Beta-Dispersion as an Indicator of Manner and Cause of Death

Cited by 30 publications

References 42 publications

Microbiome in Death and Beyond: Current Vistas and Future Trends

Microbiome in Death and Beyond: Current Vistas and Future Trends

Effects of Extended Postmortem Interval on Microbial Communities in Organs of the Human Cadaver

Forensic Applications of Microbiomics: A Review

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