Title Preliminary study on microeukaryotic community analysis using NGS technology to determine postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) in the drowned pig
Author Cheol-ho Hyun1, Heesoo Kim2, Seongho Ryu*3, and Won Kim*2
Address 1Department of Forensic Investigation, Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency, Jeonju, Republic of Korea, 2School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 3Soonchunhyang Institute of Med-Bio Sciences (SIMS), Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea
Bibliography Journal of Microbiology, 57(11),1003–1011, 2019,
DOI 10.1007/s12275-019-9198-0
Key Words drowning, postmortem submersion interval, microeukaryotic diversity, microeukaryotic community, nextgeneration sequencing technology
Abstract While several methods for determining postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) in drowning cases have been suggested, the estimation of PMSI remains difficult. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology enables simultaneous identification of multiple taxa from environmental samples. Although NGS has been applied to estimate time since death, this application has been mainly focused on terrestrial cases. As a case study, we investigated microeukaryotic biodiversity and community structures in submerged car bonnet and drowned pig using NGS technology. NGS analysis showed that the microeukaryotic biodiversity in pig carcass was relevantly lower than that in car bonnet. NGS results also revealed that water molds and algae were related to decomposition. Relative abundances of Filobasidium, Achlya, Saprolegnia, Hydrodicton, Lobosphaera, and Scenedesmus varied with decomposition period. This data indicated that these taxa might be useful as good indicators to estimate PMSI. This study showed microeukaryotic community analysis using NGS technology may help solve drowning cases in forensic investigation.