Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan;132(1):707-714.
doi: 10.1111/jam.15210. Epub 2021 Aug 8.

Postmortem interval assessment by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis in murine cadavers

Federica Dell'Annunziata  1 , Francesca Martora  1 , Maria Elena Della Pepa  1 , Veronica Folliero  1 , Livio Luongo  2   3 , Serena Bocelli  2 , Francesca Guida  2 , Pasquale Mascolo  4 , Carlo Pietro Campobasso  4 , Sabatino Maione  2   3 , Gianluigi Franci  5 , Marilena Galdiero  1
Affiliations

Postmortem interval assessment by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis in murine cadavers

Federica Dell'Annunziata et al. J Appl Microbiol. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Aims: This study assessed the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry as an alternative method to identify species associated with the thanatomicrobiota and epinecrotic communities.

Methods and results: The study was conducted on 10 murine cadavers, and microbiological swabs were collected from five external anatomical sites (eyes, ears, nose, mouth and rectum) and four internal organs (brain, spleen, liver, heart), during 16 and 30 days, for the thanatomicrobiota and epinecrotic communities, respectively. Our results revealed that the postmortem microbiota associated with the external cavities showed changes over time and reduced taxonomic diversity. The internal organs, initially sterile, showed signs of microbial invasion at 3 and 10 days postmortem for the liver-spleen and heart-brain, respectively. The postmortem microbiota was mainly dominated by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria.

Conclusions: MALDI-TOF is a promising method for estimating postmortem interval (PMI), associated with rapid sample handling, good reproducibility and high productivity.

Significance and impact of the study: This study investigated microbial changes during the decomposition process and proposed a simple strategy for PMI estimation. Results introducing the application of the MALDI-TOF method in the field of forensic.

Keywords: MALDI-TOF; decomposition; epinecrotic communities; postmortem interval; thanatomicrobiota.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. Funding: This research received no external funding.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Heatmap of the relative abundances of the most predominant bacterial species associated with thanatomicrobiota and communities epinecrotic
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Prevalence of bacterial genera in ear (a), eye (b), nose (c), mouth (d), rectum (e) up to 30 days postmortem (p value <0.05) (formula image Escherichia spp.; formula image Staphylococcus spp.; formula image Enterococcus spp.; formula image Aerococcus spp.; formula image Lactobacillus spp.)
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Bacterial genera assessment in brain (a), heart (b), liver (c), and spleen (d) up to 16 days postmortem (p value <0.05) (formula image Staphylococcus spp.; formula image Enterococcus spp.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adserias‐Garriga, J. , Hernández, M. , Quijada, N.M. , Rodríguez Lázaro, D. , Steadman, D. & Garcia‐Gil, J. (2017) Daily thanatomicrobiome changes in soil as an approach of postmortem interval estimation: an ecological perspective. Forensic Science International, 278, 388–395. - PubMed
    1. Ceciliason, A.S. , Andersson, M.G. , Lindström, A. & Sandler, H. (2018) Quantifying human decomposition in an indoor setting and implications for postmortem interval estimation. Forensic Science International, 283, 180–189. - PubMed
    1. Chun, L.P. , Miguel, M.J. , Junkins, E.N. , Forbes, S.L. & Carter, D.O. (2015) An initial investigation into the ecology of culturable aerobic postmortem bacteria. Science & Justice, 55, 394–401. - PubMed
    1. Cobaugh, K.L. , Schaeffer, S.M. & DeBruyn, J.M. (2015) Functional and structural succession of soil microbial communities below decomposing human cadavers. PLoS One, 10, e0130201. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cockle, D.L. & Bell, L.S. (2015) Human decomposition and the reliability of a “Universal” model for post mortem interval estimations. Forensic Science International, 253, 136.e1–136.e9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26092190/ - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources