Determination the presence of amplification products of 16s rRNA microcystis aeruginosa as a biomarker of drowning

Abstract

Forensic medical diagnostics of drowning now is a difficult issue to resolve. Determination of diatom plankton with light microscopy is one of the supplementary methods for diagnostics of drowning. The disadvantage of this method is the use of concentrated acids to destroy the tissues of the organs, which greatly complicates, and sometimes precludes the detection of diatom plankton. In this case, the detection of other phytoplankton species in internal organs is treated as pseudoplankton, but does not have a diagnostic value. We have developed a sensitive and specific method of drowning diagnostics using a pair of specific oligonucleotide primers by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to determine the presence of DNA of Cyanobacteria of the genus Microcystis, namely a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene in the tissues of mice and water samples in order to establish the fact and place of drowning. In order to evaluate the diagnostic value of this method, we conducted an experimental study to detect fragments of the 16S rRNA gene in mice tissues during drowning and post-mortem immersion. The amplification products were found in the tissues of heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, bone tissue, brain tissue, and lungs in case of drowning. During post-mortem immersion products of amplification are detected only in the tissues of lungs. The results indicate that the proposed PCR method is a potentially useful tool for diagnosing of mechanical asphyxia as a result of drowning.