scholarly journals Estimating the Time Since Deposition of Saliva Stains With a Targeted Bacterial DNA Approach: A Proof-of-Principle Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Díez López ◽  
Manfred Kayser ◽  
Athina Vidaki

Information on the time when a stain was deposited at a crime scene can be valuable in forensic investigations. It can link a DNA-identified stain donor with a crime or provide a post-mortem interval estimation in cases with cadavers. The available methods for estimating stain deposition time have limitations of different types and magnitudes. In this proof-of-principle study we investigated for the first time the use of microbial DNA for this purpose in human saliva stains. First, we identified the most abundant and frequent bacterial species in saliva using publicly available 16S rRNA gene next generation sequencing (NGS) data from 1,848 samples. Next, we assessed time-dependent changes in 15 identified species using de-novo 16S rRNA gene NGS in the saliva stains of two individuals exposed to indoor conditions for up to 1 year. We selected four bacterial species, i.e., Fusobacterium periodonticum, Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Veillonella dispar, and Veillonella parvula showing significant time-dependent changes and developed a 4-plex qPCR assay for their targeted analysis. Then, we analyzed the saliva stains of 15 individuals exposed to indoor conditions for up to 1 month. Bacterial counts generally increased with time and explained 54.9% of the variation (p = <2.2E–16). Time since deposition explained ≥86.5% and ≥88.9% of the variation in each individual and species, respectively (p = <2.2E–16). Finally, based on sample duplicates we built and tested multiple linear regression models for predicting the stain deposition time at an individual level, resulting in an average mean absolute error (MAE) of 5 days (ranging 3.3–7.8 days). Overall, the deposition time of 181 (81.5%) stains was correctly predicted within 1 week. Prediction models were also assessed in stains exposed to similar conditions up to 1 month 7 months later, resulting in an average MAE of 8.8 days (ranging 3.9–16.9 days). Our proof-of-principle study suggests the potential of the DNA profiling of human commensal bacteria as a method of estimating saliva stains time since deposition in the forensic scenario, which may be expanded to other forensically relevant tissues. The study considers practical applications of this novel approach, but various forensic developmental validation and implementation criteria will need to be met in more dedicated studies in the future.

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (13) ◽  
pp. 3969-3976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingrang Lu ◽  
Jorge W. Santo Domingo ◽  
Regina Lamendella ◽  
Thomas Edge ◽  
Stephen Hill

ABSTRACT In spite of increasing public health concerns about the potential risks associated with swimming in waters contaminated with waterfowl feces, little is known about the composition of the gut microbial community of aquatic birds. To address this, a gull 16S rRNA gene clone library was developed and analyzed to determine the identities of fecal bacteria. Analysis of 282 16S rRNA gene clones demonstrated that the gull gut bacterial community is mostly composed of populations closely related to Bacilli (37%), Clostridia (17%), Gammaproteobacteria (11%), and Bacteriodetes (1%). Interestingly, a considerable number of sequences (i.e., 26%) were closely related to Catellicoccus marimammalium, a gram-positive, catalase-negative bacterium. To determine the occurrence of C. marimammalium in waterfowl, species-specific 16S rRNA gene PCR and real-time assays were developed and used to test fecal DNA extracts from different bird (n = 13) and mammal (n = 26) species. The results showed that both assays were specific to gull fecal DNA and that C. marimammalium was present in gull fecal samples collected from the five locations in North America (California, Georgia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Toronto, Canada) tested. Additionally, 48 DNA extracts from waters collected from six sites in southern California, Great Lakes in Michigan, Lake Erie in Ohio, and Lake Ontario in Canada presumed to be impacted with gull feces were positive by the C. marimammalium assay. Due to the widespread presence of this species in gulls and environmental waters contaminated with gull feces, targeting this bacterial species might be useful for detecting gull fecal contamination in waterfowl-impacted waters.


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 1040-1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Slany ◽  
Martina Vanerkova ◽  
Eva Nemcova ◽  
Barbora Zaloudikova ◽  
Filip Ruzicka ◽  
...  

High-resolution melting analysis (HRMA) is a fast (post-PCR) high-throughput method to scan for sequence variations in a target gene. The aim of this study was to test the potential of HRMA to distinguish particular bacterial species of the Staphylococcus genus even when using a broad-range PCR within the 16S rRNA gene where sequence differences are minimal. Genomic DNA samples isolated from 12 reference staphylococcal strains ( Staphylococcus aureus , Staphylococcus capitis , Staphylococcus caprae , Staphylococcus epidermidis , Staphylococcus haemolyticus , Staphylococcus hominis , Staphylococcus intermedius , Staphylococcus saprophyticus , Staphylococcus sciuri , Staphylococcus simulans , Staphylococcus warneri , and Staphylococcus xylosus ) were subjected to a real-time PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene in the presence of fluorescent dye EvaGreen™, followed by HRMA. Melting profiles were used as molecular fingerprints for bacterial species differentiation. HRMA of S. saprophyticus and S. xylosus resulted in undistinguishable profiles because of their identical sequences in the analyzed 16S rRNA region. The remaining reference strains were fully differentiated either directly or via high-resolution plots obtained by heteroduplex formation between coamplified PCR products of the tested staphylococcal strain and phylogenetically unrelated strain.


Author(s):  
Chen Zheng-li ◽  
Peng Yu ◽  
Wu Guo-sheng ◽  
Hong Xu-Dong ◽  
Fan Hao ◽  
...  

Abstract Burns destroy the skin barrier and alter the resident bacterial community, thereby facilitating bacterial infection. To treat a wound infection, it is necessary to understand the changes in the wound bacterial community structure. However, traditional bacterial cultures allow the identification of only readily growing or purposely cultured bacterial species and lack the capacity to detect changes in the bacterial community. In this study, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to detect alterations in the bacterial community structure in deep partial-thickness burn wounds on the back of Sprague-Dawley rats. These results were then compared with those obtained from the bacterial culture. Bacterial samples were collected prior to wounding and 1, 7, 14, and 21 days after wounding. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the number of resident bacterial species decreased after the burn. Both resident bacterial richness and diversity, which were significantly reduced after the burn, recovered following wound healing. The dominant resident strains also changed, but the inhibition of bacterial community structure was in a non-volatile equilibrium state, even in the early stage after healing. Furthermore, the correlation between wound and environmental bacteria increased with the occurrence of burns. Hence, the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis reflected the bacterial condition of the wounds better than the bacterial culture. 16S rRNA sequencing in the Sprague-Dawley rat burn model can provide more information for the prevention and treatment of burn infections in clinical settings and promote further development in this field.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wei ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
Shuai Yang ◽  
Wenzhong Wang ◽  
Fanxiang Min ◽  
...  

Common scab (CS) caused by Streptomyces spp. is a significant soilborne potato disease that results in tremendous economic losses globally. Identification of CS-associated species of the genus Streptomyces can enhance understanding of the genetic variation of these bacterial species and is necessary for the control of this epidemic disease. The present study isolated Streptomyces strain 6-2-1(1) from scabby potatoes in Keshan County, Heilongjiang Province, China. PCR analysis confirmed that the strain harbored the characteristic Streptomyces pathogenicity island (PAI) genes (txtA, txtAB, nec1, and tomA). Pathogenicity assays proved that the strain caused typical scab lesions on potato tuber surfaces and necrosis on radish seedlings and potato slices. Subsequently, the strain was systemically characterized at morphological, physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic levels. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain 6-2-1(1) shared 99.86% sequence similarity with Streptomyces rhizophilus JR-41T, isolated initially from bamboo in rhizospheric soil in Korea. PCR amplification followed by Sanger sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene of 164 scabby potato samples collected in Heilongjiang Province from 2019 to 2020 demonstrated that approximately 2% of the tested samples were infected with S. rhizophilus. Taken together, these results demonstrate that S. rhizophilus is capable of causing potato CS disease and may pose a potential challenge to potato production in Heilongjiang Province of China.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joko T. Wibowo ◽  
Matthias Y. Kellermann ◽  
Dennis Versluis ◽  
Masteria Y. Putra ◽  
Tutik Murniasih ◽  
...  

In order to minimize re-discovery of already known anti-infective compounds, we focused our screening approach on understudied, almost untapped marine environments including marine invertebrates and their associated bacteria. Therefore, two sea cucumber species, Holothuria leucospilota and Stichopus vastus, were collected from Lampung (Indonesia), and 127 bacterial strains were identified by partial 16S rRNA-gene sequencing analysis and compared with the NCBI database. In addition, the overall bacterial diversity from tissue samples of the sea cucumbers H. leucospilota and S. vastus was analyzed using the cultivation-independent Illumina MiSEQ analysis. Selected bacterial isolates were grown to high densities and the extracted biomass was tested against a selection of bacteria and fungi as well as the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Identification of putative bioactive bacterial-derived compounds were performed by analyzing the accurate mass of the precursor/parent ions (MS1) as well as product/daughter ions (MS2) using high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis of all active fractions. With this attempt we were able to identify 23 putatively known and two previously unidentified precursor ions. Moreover, through 16S rRNA-gene sequencing we were able to identify putatively novel bacterial species from the phyla Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and also Firmicutes. Our findings suggest that sea cucumbers like H. leucospilota and S. vastus are promising sources for the isolation of novel bacterial species that produce compounds with potentially high biotechnological potential.


2015 ◽  
Vol 65 (Pt_6) ◽  
pp. 1929-1934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgane Rossi-Tamisier ◽  
Samia Benamar ◽  
Didier Raoult ◽  
Pierre-Edouard Fournier

Modern bacterial taxonomy is based on a polyphasic approach that combines phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, including 16S rRNA sequence similarity. However, the 95 % (for genus) and 98.7 % (for species) sequence similarity thresholds that are currently recommended to classify bacterial isolates were defined by comparison of a limited number of bacterial species, and may not apply to many genera that contain human-associated species. For each of 158 bacterial genera containing human-associated species, we computed pairwise sequence similarities between all species that have names with standing in nomenclature and then analysed the results, considering as abnormal any similarity value lower than 95 % or greater than 98.7 %. Many of the current bacterial species with validly published names do not respect the 95 and 98.7 % thresholds, with 57.1 % of species exhibiting 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity rates ≥98.7 %, and 60.1 % of genera containing species exhibiting a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity rate <95 %. In only 17 of the 158 genera studied (10.8 %), all species respected the 95 and 98.7 % thresholds. As we need powerful and reliable taxonomical tools, and as potential new tools such as pan-genomics have not yet been fully evaluated for taxonomic purposes, we propose to use as thresholds, genus by genus, the minimum and maximum similarity values observed among species.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Mediano ◽  
Leonides Fernández ◽  
Esther Jiménez ◽  
Rebeca Arroyo ◽  
Irene Espinosa-Martos ◽  
...  

Background: Lactational mastitis constitutes a significant cause of premature weaning. However, its etiology, linked to the presence of pathogenic microorganisms, has been scarcely reported. Research aim: The aim of this study was to describe the microbial diversity in milk samples from women suffering from lactational mastitis and to identify more accurately a collection of isolates belonging to coagulase-negative staphylococci, streptococci, and coryneform bacteria. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive one-group study. A total of 5,009 isolates from 1,849 mastitis milk samples was identified by culture, biochemical, and/or molecular methods at the species or genus level. A more precise identification of a collection of 211 isolates was carried out by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results: Mean total bacterial count in milk samples was 4.11 log10 colony-forming units/ml, 95% confidence interval [4.08, 4.15]. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most common species being isolated from 91.56% of the samples, whereas Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 29.74%. Streptococci and corynebacteria constituted the second (70.20%) and third (16.60%) most prevalent bacterial groups, respectively, found in this study. In contrast, Candida spp. was present in only 0.54% of the samples. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a high diversity of bacterial species among identified isolates. Conclusion: Many coagulase-negative staphylococci, viridans group streptococci, and corynebacteria, usually dismissed as contaminant bacteria, may play an important role as etiologic agents of mastitis. Proper diagnosis of mastitis should be established after performing microbiological testing of milk based on standardized procedures. A reliable analysis must identify the mastitis-causing pathogen(s) at the species level and its(their) concentration(s).


2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (Pt_3) ◽  
pp. 632-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song-Ih Han ◽  
Hyo-Jin Lee ◽  
Hae-Ran Lee ◽  
Ki-Kwang Kim ◽  
Kyung-Sook Whang

Three exopolysaccharide-producing bacteria, designated strains DRP28T, DRP29 and DRP31, were isolated from the rhizoplane of Angelica sinensis from the Geumsan, Republic of Korea. Cells were straight rods, Gram reaction-negative, aerobic, non-motile, and catalase- and oxidase- positive. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that these bacteria belong to the genus Mucilaginibacter in the phylum Bacteroidetes. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to strains of recognized species of the genus Mucilaginibacter were 93.8–97.4 %. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The strains contained MK-7 as the major isoprenoid quinone. Strains DRP28T, DRP29 and DRP31 formed a single, distinct genomospecies with DNA G+C contents of 41.9–42.7 mol% and DNA hybridization values of 82.6–86.8 %; the strains exhibited DNA–DNA hybridization values of only 20.4–41.3 % with related species of the genus Mucilaginibacter. On the basis of evidence presented in this study, strains DRP28T, DRP29 and DRP31 were considered to represent a novel species of the genus Mucilaginibacter, for which the name Mucilaginibacter polysacchareus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DRP28T ( = KACC 15075T  = NBRC 107757T).


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo R. Barajas ◽  
Miguel F. Romero ◽  
Shamayim Martínez-Sánchez ◽  
Luis D. Alcaraz

Background The Streptococcus genus is relevant to both public health and food safety because of its ability to cause pathogenic infections. It is well-represented (>100 genomes) in publicly available databases. Streptococci are ubiquitous, with multiple sources of isolation, from human pathogens to dairy products. The Streptococcus genus has traditionally been classified by morphology, serum types, the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, and multi-locus sequence types subject to in-depth comparative genomic analysis. Methods Core and pan-genomes described the genomic diversity of 108 strains belonging to 16 Streptococcus species. The core genome nucleotide diversity was calculated and compared to phylogenomic distances within the genus Streptococcus. The core genome was also used as a resource to recruit metagenomic fragment reads from streptococci dominated environments. A conventional 16S rRNA gene phylogeny reconstruction was used as a reference to compare the resulting dendrograms of average nucleotide identity (ANI) and genome similarity score (GSS) dendrograms. Results The core genome, in this work, consists of 404 proteins that are shared by all 108 Streptococcus. The average identity of the pairwise compared core proteins decreases proportionally to GSS lower scores, across species. The GSS dendrogram recovers most of the clades in the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny while distinguishing between 16S polytomies (unresolved nodes). The GSS is a distance metric that can reflect evolutionary history comparing orthologous proteins. Additionally, GSS resulted in the most useful metric for genus and species comparisons, where ANI metrics failed due to false positives when comparing different species. Discussion Understanding of genomic variability and species relatedness is the goal of tools like GSS, which makes use of the maximum pairwise shared orthologous sequences for its calculation. It allows for long evolutionary distances (above species) to be included because of the use of amino acid alignment scores, rather than nucleotides, and normalizing by positive matches. Newly sequenced species and strains could be easily placed into GSS dendrograms to infer overall genomic relatedness. The GSS is not restricted to ubiquitous conservancy of gene features; thus, it reflects the mosaic-structure and dynamism of gene acquisition and loss in bacterial genomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zarina Zainuddin ◽  
Abdul Qahhar Bin Paiman ◽  
Yunita Dewi Ardini

Severe early childhood caries (SECC) is a microbialinfection that severely compromises the dentition ofyoung children.The aim of this study is toidentify bacteria associated with SECC and compare bacterial species between SECC and caries-free children. Bacterial samples were isolated from dental plaque samples of 3 to 6-yearold preschool children and the status of dental caries at the surface level was evaluated using World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria for decayed, missing and filled tooth surfaces (DFMS). 30 samples from the interproximal part were collected and genomic DNA was extracted using MasterPure™ Gram Positive DNA Purification Kit. Polymerase Reaction (PCR) was conducted on the genomic DNA extracted to amplify 16S rRNA gene and successfully amplified 16S rRNA gene from the samples was sent for sequencing.This research was approved by the IIUM Research Ethic Committee (IREC). Using the selected kit, genomic DNA was successfully extracted and PCR amplification of the bacterial 16S rRNAgeneusing universal bacterial primers was achieved giving a product of 1500 bp. Results from sequencing when analysedusing BLAST from the NCBI website, identified bacteria from the genus Vibrio, Haemophilus and Aggregatibacter from SECC samples while for caries-free samples Granulicatella was identified.


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