Potential use of molecular and structural characterization of the gut bacterial community for postmortem interval estimation in Sprague Dawley rats

Li, Huan; Zhang, Siruo; Liu, Ruina; Lu, Yuan; Wu, Di; Yang, Eun Jin; Han, Yang; Ullah, Shakir; Ishaq, Hafiz Muhammad; Liu, Hailong; Wang, Zhenyuan; Xu, Jiru

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-80633-2

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…In 2021, Li et al [ 45 ] investigated the probable shift in the composition of the rectal microbiota in eight rats at different time intervals up to 15 days after death to explore important taxa for estimating PMI. They discovered that the turning point occurred at day 9 when the microbiome provided the most useful information for estimating the time since death.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in this case, decomposition processes will deviate from the physiological ones that occur in nature in an open environment, where cadaver microbiome is influenced by soil contamination and insects’ colonization. For this reason, some authors have chosen to monitor the progress of the microbiome during the decomposition of corpses buried in the ground in an open space [ 45 , 53 ]. Furthermore, another limitation of the mouse model is that the organism and the composition of its microbiota deviates considerably more from that of humans than other animal models, such as the pig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through Random Forest, Zhang et al found that the error in predicting PMI from a given microbiome was about 2 days out of 60 days of decomposition, showing less error in soil analysis than skin and rectum [ 53 ]. Authors demonstrated that the microbiota of the rectum showed a change in its composition at intervals during 15 days of decomposition, the phylum of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes showed the greatest change during post-mortem and day nine was identified as the turning point [ 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-Mortem Interval and Microbiome Analysis through 16S rRNA Analysis: A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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The determination of the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) is an issue that has always represented a challenge in the field of forensic science. Different innovative approaches, compared to the more traditional ones, have been tried over the years, without succeeding in being validated as successful methods for PMI estimation. In the last two decades, innovations in sequencing technologies have made it possible to generate large volumes of data, allowing all members of a bacterial community to be sequenced. The aim of this manuscript is to provide a review regarding new advances in PMI estimation through cadaveric microbiota identification using 16S rRNA sequencing, in order to correlate specific microbiome profiles obtained from different body sites to PMI. The systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. For this purpose, 800 studies were identified through database searching (Pubmed). Articles that dealt with PMI estimation in correlation with microbiome composition and contained data about species, body site of sampling, monitoring time and sequencing method were selected and ultimately a total of 25 studies were considered. The selected studies evaluated the contribution of the various body sites to determine PMI, based on microbiome sequencing, in human and animal models. The results of this systematic review highlighted that studies conducted on both animals and humans yielded results that were promising. In order to fully exploit the potential of the microbiome in the estimation of PMI, it would be desirable to identify standardized body sampling sites and specific sampling methods in order to align data obtained by different research groups.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-Mortem Interval and Microbiome Analysis through 16S rRNA Analysis: A Systematic Review

et al. 2022

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“…Clostridiaceae and Clostridium have been reported to be a key contributor to decomposition in both terrestrial (Metcalf et al, 2013;Pechal et al, 2014;Hyde et al, 2015) and aquatic (Cartozzo et al, 2021b) settings, which is in line with our present study. At the genus level, Proteus and Enterococcus were the most predominant bacteria of remains decaying in the terrestrial environment after 3 days postmortem (Janaway et al, 2009;Li et al, 2021). Proteus might be outcompeting other bacteria at later PMSIs due to the swarming behavior (Kearns, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Postmortem submersion interval estimation of cadavers recovered from freshwater based on gut microbial community succession

Zhang

Wang²,

Zeng³

et al. 2022

Front. Microbiol.

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Microbial community succession during decomposition has been proven to be a useful tool for postmortem interval (PMI) estimation. Numerous studies have shown that the intestinal microbial community presented chronological changes after death and was stable in terrestrial corpses with different causes of death. However, the postmortem pattern of intestinal microbial community succession in cadavers retrieved from water remains unclear. For immersed corpses, the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) is a useful indicator of PMI. To provide reliable estimates of PMSI in forensic investigations, we investigated the gut microbial community succession of corpses submersed in freshwater and explored its potential application in forensic investigation. In this study, the intestinal microbial community of mouse submersed in freshwater that died of drowning or CO2 asphyxia (i.e., postmortem submersion) were characterized by 16S rDNA amplification and high-throughput sequencing, followed by bioinformatic analyses. The results demonstrated that the chronological changes in intestinal bacterial communities were not different between the drowning and postmortem submersion groups. α-diversity decreased significantly within 14 days of decomposition in both groups, and the β-diversity bacterial community structure ordinated chronologically, inferring the functional pathway and phenotype. To estimate PMSI, a regression model was established by random forest (RF) algorithm based on the succession of postmortem microbiota. Furthermore, 15 genera, including Proteus, Enterococcus, and others, were selected as candidate biomarkers to set up a concise predicted model, which provided a prediction of PMSI [MAE (± SE) = 0.818 (± 0.165) d]. Overall, our present study provides evidence that intestinal microbial community succession would be a valuable marker to estimate the PMSI of corpses submerged in an aquatic habitat.

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“…With the advancement of sequencing technologies, especially next-generation sequencing, it is possible to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of microbial community succession during the decay process. Many studies in human and animal corpses indicate the potential value of microbial succession for PMI or PMSI estimation ( Li et al, 2021 ; Randall et al, 2021 ). To date, microbial studies investigating aquatic ecosystems in this context have mainly focused on microbes that have colonized the surface of remains or specific body parts (e.g., bones; Wallace et al, 2021 ; Cartozzo et al, 2021a ), which are vulnerable to environmental changes ( Kaszubinski et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial communities in the liver and brain are informative for postmortem submersion interval estimation in the late phase of decomposition: A study in mouse cadavers recovered from freshwater

et al. 2022

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IntroductionBodies recovered from water, especially in the late phase of decomposition, pose difficulties to the investigating authorities. Various methods have been proposed for postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) estimation and drowning identification, but some limitations remain. Many recent studies have proved the value of microbiota succession in viscera for postmortem interval estimation. Nevertheless, the visceral microbiota succession and its application for PMSI estimation and drowning identification require further investigation.MethodsIn the current study, mouse drowning and CO2 asphyxia models were developed, and cadavers were immersed in freshwater for 0 to 14 days. Microbial communities in the liver and brain were characterized via 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing.ResultsOnly livers and brains collected from 5 to 14 days postmortem were qualified for sequencing. There was significant variation between microbiota from liver and brain. Differences in microbiota between the cadavers of mice that had drowned and those only subjected to postmortem submersion decreased over the PMSI. Significant successions in microbial communities were observed among the different subgroups within the late phase of the PMSI in livers and brains. Eighteen taxa in the liver which were mainly related to Clostridium_sensu_stricto and Aeromonas, and 26 taxa in the brain which were mainly belonged to Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Acetobacteroides, and Limnochorda, were selected as potential biomarkers for PMSI estimation based on a random forest algorithm. The PMSI estimation models established yielded accurate prediction results with mean absolute errors ± the standard error of 1.282 ± 0.189 d for the liver and 0.989 ± 0.237 d for the brain.ConclusionsThe present study provides novel information on visceral postmortem microbiota succession in corpses submerged in freshwater which sheds new light on PMSI estimation based on the liver and brain in forensic practice.

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Potential use of molecular and structural characterization of the gut bacterial community for postmortem interval estimation in Sprague Dawley rats

Cited by 12 publications

References 48 publications

Post-Mortem Interval and Microbiome Analysis through 16S rRNA Analysis: A Systematic Review

Post-Mortem Interval and Microbiome Analysis through 16S rRNA Analysis: A Systematic Review

Postmortem submersion interval estimation of cadavers recovered from freshwater based on gut microbial community succession

Microbial communities in the liver and brain are informative for postmortem submersion interval estimation in the late phase of decomposition: A study in mouse cadavers recovered from freshwater

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