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DNA methylation: the future of crime scene investigation?

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Abstract

Proper detection and subsequent analysis of biological evidence is crucial for crime scene reconstruction. The number of different criminal acts is increasing rapidly. Therefore, forensic geneticists are constantly on the battlefield, trying hard to find solutions how to solve them. One of the essential defensive lines in the fight against the invasion of crime is relying on DNA methylation. In this review, the role of DNA methylation in body fluid identification and other DNA methylation applications are discussed. Among other applications of DNA methylation, age determination of the donor of biological evidence, analysis of the parent-of-origin specific DNA methylation markers at imprinted loci for parentage testing and personal identification, differentiation between monozygotic twins due to their different DNA methylation patterns, artificial DNA detection and analyses of DNA methylation patterns in the promoter regions of circadian clock genes are the most important ones. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of open chapters in DNA methylation research that need to be closed before its final implementation in routine forensic casework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forensic Science Centre “Ivan Vučetić”, General Police Directorate, Ministry of Interior, Zagreb, Croatia

    Branka Gršković & Gordan Mršić

  2. University Center for Forensic Sciences, University of Split, Split, Croatia

    Branka Gršković, Maja Popović & Gordan Mršić

  3. Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Dario Zrnec

  4. Division of Gene Technology, School of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, Science for Life Laboratory, Solna, Sweden

    Sanja Vicković

  5. Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Maja Popović

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  1. Branka Gršković
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  2. Dario Zrnec
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  3. Sanja Vicković
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  4. Maja Popović
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  5. Gordan Mršić
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Correspondence to Branka Gršković.

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Gršković, B., Zrnec, D., Vicković, S. et al. DNA methylation: the future of crime scene investigation?. Mol Biol Rep 40, 4349–4360 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-013-2525-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-013-2525-3

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