Human DNA typing from a mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) blood meal found at a crime scene

Magni, P.A., Ginestra, E., Romano, C., Ginestra, E., Saravo, L. and Spitaleri, S. (2007) Human DNA typing from a mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) blood meal found at a crime scene. In: 5th Meeting European Association for Forensic Entomology (EAFE), 2 - 5 May 2007, Brussels, Belgium.

Abstract

Mosquitoes are men parasitical biters often found by crime scene investigators in the south of Italy. The presence of these species can heavily contribute to the investigators’ efforts. In the past some authors demonstrated the possibility of performing human DNA typing from insect’s gut content for forensic issues. In this paper we report a casework occurred in Sicily: a person was killed in a room where no traces were found apart from a fresh mosquito blood meal stain. Our goal was to obtain a genotypic profile from such a poor and biologically contaminated DNA sample. Human DNA was recovered thanks to an adjusted DNA extraction protocol, allowing the removal of insect-specific molecules. Results showed that it is possible to successfully amplify and to obtain a human-specific 15 loci profile (AmpFLSTR Identifiler – Applied Biosystems), even if DNA is recovered from contaminated traces. Addressing the profile to the major suspect of the murder, we showed that unusual kinds of traces may provide a significant assistance in a real investigation.

Item Type:	Conference Item
Conference Website:	http://www.eafe.org/
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/57682

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