Forensic blood stain aging using reverse transcription real-time PCR

Abstract

Bloodstains are among the most important biological types of forensic evidence collected from crime scenes. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of age estimation of blood stains on cotton cloth using the Real-time PCR technique combined with a multidimensional prediction model. A tissue-specific mRNA (HBB) and 2 Housekeeping genes (GAPDH and B2M) were analyzed over a 150-day period. The combined correlation equation for estimating the age of a blood stain was identified as: Age (Day) = −1.205+4.794(2 −(ΔCT GAPDH − 2.14))+50.293(2 −(ΔCT HBB + 8.117))−5.778(2 −(ΔCT HBB + 8.117)) 2.

Keywords

• Forensic
• Bloodstain
• RNA
• Real-time PCR
• Crime scene
• Sample age estimation