Abstract
Human have the microorganisms in the skin, gut and mouth. Human skin microbiome based on the 16S rRNA encoding gene can reveal bacterial species diversity. Also bacterial species in the skin have diverse and unique composition between individuals. We thought that a bacterial fingerprint obtained from surfaces including computer keyboards aids forensic individual identification in case of evidence deficiency. Next generation sequencing was used to analyze the bacterial community on objects and fingertips to match the object to the individual. The 16S rRNA gene sequence was submitted to EMBL SRA with accession number PRJEB8760. Higher similarity of bacterial community between public computer keyboards and laboratory member’s fingertips were evident than between other locations including doorknobs. Here we studied the challenges that bacterial fingerprint can be used as a human identification tool in forensic fields.
Highlights
Every individual harbors a large number of microorganisms
Human skin microbiome based on the 16S rRNA encoding gene can reveal bacterial species diversity
Sample collection and DNA extraction We swabbed keyboards of a public computer and individual fingertips in the laboratory to explore the correspondence between the bacterial communities of individuals and the bacterial fingerprints recovered from the keyboard
Summary
Every individual harbors a large number of microorganisms. The human microbiome refers to the total microorganisms found in and on the human body. Bacterial DNA is a novel avenue in forensic science. We hypothesized that personal identification can be possible by analysis of the pattern of skin bacterial DNA. Skin bacteria left on surfaces that were touched were identified using next-generation sequencing (NGS). NGS is a bioinformatic technique that uses molecular and computational approaches to generate and analyze DNA sequences [3]. In pyrosequencing is a technology that reads the sequence by detection of pyrophosphate generated when DNA polymerase attaches to the nucleotide monomer. We hypothesized that bacterial DNA analyses could discriminate the differing bacterial profiles between individuals in a way that has forensic value. We analyzed the bacterial signatures left by different individuals on surfaces including fingertips, a computer keyboard and a doorknob using pyrosequencing based on the 16S rRNA gene
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