Molecular Identification of Forensically Important Indian Species of Flesh Flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) by Using COI Gene of Mitochondrial DNA

Manish Sharma,Devinder Singh

doi:10.4172/2157-7145.1000316

Abstract

Identification of the fauna collected from and around the corpse is an absolutely vital prerequisite for the estimation of post mortem interval(PMI) in the field of forensic entomology. Morphological identification of flesh flies (Diptera; Sarcophagidae) can be perplexing due similar attributes of the species. So, to simplify the identification method, amplification of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene is often tried. We illustrate the use of 450 bp fragment of COI gene for differentiation of ten forensically significant species of flesh flies in India. The outcome displays the robustness of COI gene as a diagnostic marker, since its nucleotide variability endows reliable distinction to be drawn between species. Four new COI gene sequences have been added to GenBank which may be of interest for correct species identification for future workers.

Highlights

Entomological evidence at a crime place can supply information on time, origin, kind, and location of death [1,2,3,4]
The aim of this research was to ascertain the reliability of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene to differentiate between some Indian flesh flies of forensic interest
The publications on the molecular identification of forensically applicable flesh flies from India are constrained to one [33]. They researched five species of flesh flies on the basis of COI gene but that work was only constrained to phylogenetic investigation and not associated to forensic entomology

Summary

Introduction

Entomological evidence at a crime place can supply information on time, origin, kind, and location of death [1,2,3,4]. Most forensic entomological clues are reliant on unquestionable species identification. This estimation is founded upon the time taken for insects evolving on a corpse to come to the stage present when the body is discovered [7,8]. Insect species have distinct developmental lifecycle timings and to utilize the correct developmental data, species need to be accurately recognized. This can be done on the basis of morphological differences [7,8]

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