TY - JOUR
T1 - The devil is in the details
T2 - Variable impacts of season, BMI, sampling site temperature, and presence of insects on the post-mortem microbiome
AU - Tarone, Aaron M.
AU - Mann, Allison E.
AU - Zhang, Yan
AU - Zascavage, Roxanne R.
AU - Mitchell, Elizabeth A.
AU - Morales, Edgar
AU - Rusch, Travis W.
AU - Allen, Michael S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Danny Wescott and staff of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX for sampling access and assistance. We thank Jeff Whyte and Miodrag Micic for sample processing advice and experimental design discussions.
Funding Information:
Funding for this project was partially provided by grants from the NSF Center for Advanced Research in Forensic Science (CARFS, #1740434) to MA and AT. Partial support for AT and TR came from NIJ grant 2016-DN-BX-0204.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Tarone, Mann, Zhang, Zascavage, Mitchell, Morales, Rusch and Allen.
PY - 2022/12/7
Y1 - 2022/12/7
N2 - Background: Post-mortem microbial communities are increasingly investigated as proxy evidence for a variety of factors of interest in forensic science. The reported predictive power of the microbial community to determine aspects of the individual’s post-mortem history (e.g., the post-mortem interval) varies substantially among published research. This observed variation is partially driven by the local environment or the individual themselves. In the current study, we investigated the impact of BMI, sex, insect activity, season, repeat sampling, decomposition time, and temperature on the microbial community sampled from donated human remains in San Marcos, TX using a high-throughput gene-fragment metabarcoding approach. Materials and methods: In the current study, we investigated the impact of BMI, sex, insect activity, season, repeat sampling, decomposition time, and temperature on the microbial community sampled from donated human remains in San Marcos, TX using a high-throughput gene-fragment metabarcoding approach. Results: We found that season, temperature at the sampling site, BMI, and sex had a significant effect on the post-mortem microbiome, the presence of insects has a homogenizing influence on the total bacterial community, and that community consistency from repeat sampling decreases as the decomposition process progresses. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of temperature at the site of sampling on the abundance of important diagnostic taxa. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that while the bacterial community or specific bacterial species may prove to be useful for forensic applications, a clearer understanding of the mechanisms underpinning microbial decomposition will greatly increase the utility of microbial evidence in forensic casework.
AB - Background: Post-mortem microbial communities are increasingly investigated as proxy evidence for a variety of factors of interest in forensic science. The reported predictive power of the microbial community to determine aspects of the individual’s post-mortem history (e.g., the post-mortem interval) varies substantially among published research. This observed variation is partially driven by the local environment or the individual themselves. In the current study, we investigated the impact of BMI, sex, insect activity, season, repeat sampling, decomposition time, and temperature on the microbial community sampled from donated human remains in San Marcos, TX using a high-throughput gene-fragment metabarcoding approach. Materials and methods: In the current study, we investigated the impact of BMI, sex, insect activity, season, repeat sampling, decomposition time, and temperature on the microbial community sampled from donated human remains in San Marcos, TX using a high-throughput gene-fragment metabarcoding approach. Results: We found that season, temperature at the sampling site, BMI, and sex had a significant effect on the post-mortem microbiome, the presence of insects has a homogenizing influence on the total bacterial community, and that community consistency from repeat sampling decreases as the decomposition process progresses. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of temperature at the site of sampling on the abundance of important diagnostic taxa. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that while the bacterial community or specific bacterial species may prove to be useful for forensic applications, a clearer understanding of the mechanisms underpinning microbial decomposition will greatly increase the utility of microbial evidence in forensic casework.
KW - decomposition
KW - forensic microbiology
KW - metataxonomics
KW - necrobiome
KW - post-mortem microbiome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144275396&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1064904
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1064904
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85144275396
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
M1 - 1064904
ER -