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P232 – 16S rRNA Sequencing of Hand and Oral Bacteria: Profiling Methods and Forensic Feasibility
The human microbiome is a powerful emerging tool for forensic identification and crime reconstruction. This diverse microbial community consists of fungi, bacteria, and viruses that reside on, within, and immediately around the human body. The skin and oral microbiomes are particularly promising, as they host diverse and abundant microbial communities and are commonly encountered as evidence through saliva and skin traces. However, forensic application of these microbiomes depends on key assumptions:
- that microbial diversity varies sufficiently between different individuals, and
- that these microbial signatures remain relatively stable over time, and that they possess transferable properties.
In this study, hand, and oral samples from twelve volunteers were collected over a six-month period and their bacterial communities profiled using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing on the Ion Torrent™ platform. Preliminary findings suggest that bacterial profiles exhibit distinct characteristics between different body sites, demonstrate potential variability between individuals, and may be stable over time. To evaluate the practical forensic feasibility of bacterial profiling, samples were additionally deposited on mock casework items for subsequent sequencing analysis. Preliminary comparisons of these results demonstrate that interpretable bacterial profiles can be successfully obtained from degraded or limited samples even in circumstances where conventional human STR profiling fail to yield usable results.
Authors
- Hilary Goh (Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore)
- Wan Ying Eng (Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore)
- Prabhakaran Munusamy (Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore)
- Nayana Prabhu (Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore)
- Chin Chin Lim (Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore)
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