Kelly A. Meiklejohn

DNA-based identification of forensically important Australian Sarcophagidae (Diptera).

The utility of the forensically important Sarcophagidae (Diptera) for time since death estimates has been severely limited, as morphological identification is difficult and thermobiological histories are inadequately documented. A molecular identification method involving the sequencing of a 658-bp ‘barcode’ fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from 85 specimens, representing 16 Australian species from varying populations, was evaluated. Nucleotide sequence divergences were calculated using the Kimura-two-parameter distance model and a neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree generated. All species were resolved as reciprocally monophyletic, except Sarcophaga dux. Intraspecific and interspecific variation ranged from 0.000% to 1.499% (SE = 0.044%) and 6.658% to 8.983% (SE = 0.653%), respectively. The COI ‘barcode’ sequence was found to be suitable for the molecular identification of the studied Australian Sarcophagidae: 96.5% of the examined specimens were assigned to the correct species. Given that the sarcophagid fauna is poorly described, it is feasible that the few incorrectly assigned specimens represent cryptic species. The results of this research will be instrumental for implementation of the Australian Sarcophagidae in forensic entomology.

Incongruence among different mitochondrial regions: A case study using complete mitogenomes

Mitochondrial sequences have long been used to examine vertebrate phylogenetic relationships. The extensive use of mitochondrial data reflects the ease of obtaining mitochondrial sequences and its relatively rapid coalescence time. Mitochondrial genomes typically do not undergo recombination, so the entire mitogenome should have the same underlying gene tree. Thus, given appropriate analyses, conflict among estimates of phylogeny from different mitochondrial regions should not exist. However, estimates of phylogeny based upon different mitochondrial regions can exhibit incongruence. Conflict in phylogenetic signal among mitochondrial regions has been observed in galliform birds for the position of the Odontophoridae (New World quail). To explore this, we expanded sampling to 47 galliform mitogenomes, adding six new mitogenomes, which included representatives of two previously unsampled families. Analyses of complete mitogenomes recovered a well-supported topology that was congruent with expectations from multi-locus studies. However, when analyzing individual regions, we found conflicting positions for the Odontophoridae and several other relationships at multiple taxonomic levels. We tested multiple analytical strategies to reduce incongruence among regions, including partitioning by codon position, using mixture and codon-based models, RY coding, and excluding potentially misleading sites. No approach consistently reduced the conflict among mitochondrial regions at any taxonomic level. The biological attributes of both strongly misleading and non-misleading sites were essentially identical. Increasing taxa actually appeared to increase conflicting signal, even when taxa were selected to break up long branches. Collectively, our results indicate that analyzing mitochondrial data remains difficult, although analyzing complete mitogenomes resulted in a good estimate of the mitochondrial gene tree.

DNA Barcoding Identifies all Immature Life Stages of a Forensically Important Flesh Fly (Diptera: Sarcophagidae)†

Carrion‐breeding insects, such as flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), can be used as evidence in forensic investigations. Despite their considerable forensic potential, their use has been limited because morphological species identification, at any life stage, is very challenging. This study investigated whether DNA could be extracted and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode sequences obtained for molecular identification of each immature life stage of the forensically important Australian flesh fly, Sarcophaga (Sarcorohdendorfia) impatiens (Walker). Genomic DNA extracts were prepared from all larval instars and puparia. Amplification of the barcoding region was successful from all extracts, but puparia amplicons were weak. All sequences were identified as S. impatiens with 99.95% confidence using the Barcoding of Life Database (BOLD). Importantly, crop removal was necessary to eliminate PCR inhibition for specimens from late second and early third instars. Similar results are expected for immatures of other carrion‐breeding species, enhancing the use of evidence from immature flies in forensic investigations.

Utility of COI, CAD and morphological data for resolving relationships within the genus Sarcophaga (sensu lato) (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) : a preliminary study

Currently there are ≈ 3000 known species of Sarcophagidae (Diptera), which are classified into 173 genera in three subfamilies. Almost 25% of sarcophagids belong to the genus Sarcophaga (sensu lato) however little is known about the validity of, and relationships between the ≈ 150 (or more) subgenera of Sarcophaga s.l. In this preliminary study, we evaluated the usefulness of three sources of data for resolving relationships between 35 species from 14 Sarcophaga s.l. subgenera: the mitochondrial COI barcode region, ≈ 800 bp of the nuclear gene CAD, and 110 morphological characters. Bayesian, maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) analyses were performed on the combined dataset. Much of the tree was only supported by the Bayesian and ML analyses, with the MP tree poorly resolved. The genus Sarcophaga s.l. was resolved as monophyletic in both the Bayesian and ML analyses and strong support was obtained at the species-level. Notably, the only subgenus consistently resolved as monophyletic was Liopygia. The monophyly of and relationships between the remaining Sarcophaga s.l. subgenera sampled remain questionable. We suggest that future phylogenetic studies on the genus Sarcophaga s.l. use combined datasets for analyses. We also advocate the use of additional data and a range of inference strategies to assist with resolving relationships within Sarcophaga s.l.

52 additional reference population samples for the 55 AISNP panel

Ancestry inference for a person using a panel of SNPs depends on the variation of frequencies of those SNPs around the world and the amount of reference data available for calculation/comparison. The Kidd Lab panel of 55 AISNPs has been incorporated in commercial kits by both Life Technologies and Illumina for massively parallel sequencing. Therefore, a larger set of reference populations will be useful for researchers using those kits. We have added reference population allele frequencies for 52 population samples to the 73 previously entered so that there are now allele frequencies publicly available in ALFRED and FROG-kb for a total of 125 population samples.

Assessing PreCR™ repair enzymes for restoration of STR profiles from artificially degraded DNA for human identification ☆

Forensic scientists have used several approaches to obtain short tandem repeat (STR) profiles from compromised DNA samples, including supplementing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with enhancers and using procedures yielding reduced-length amplicons. For degraded DNA, the peak intensities of the alleles separated by electrophoresis generally decrease as the length of the allele increases. When the intensities of the alleles decrease below an established threshold, they are described as drop-outs, thus contributing to a partial STR profile. This work assesses the use of repair enzymes to improve the STR profiles from artificially degraded DNA. The commercial PreCR™ repair kit of DNA repair enzymes was tested on both purified DNA and native DNA in body fluids exposed to oxidizing agents, hydrolytic conditions, ultraviolet (UV) and ionizing radiation, and desiccation. The strategy was to restrict the level of DNA damage to that which yields partial STR profiles in order to test for allele restoration as opposed to simple allele enhancement. Two protocols were investigated for allele restoration: a sequential protocol using the manufacturers repair procedure and a modified protocol reportedly designed for optimal STR analysis of forensic samples. Allele restoration was obtained with both protocols, but the peak height appeared to be higher for the modified protocol (determined by Mann-Kendall Trend Test). The success of the approach using the PreCR™ repair enzymes was sporadic; it led to allele restoration as well as allele drop-out. Additionally, allele restoration with the PreCR™ enzymes was compared with restoration by alternative, but commonly implemented approaches using Restorase™, PCRBoost™, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the Minifiler™ STR system. The alternative methods were also successful in improving the STR profile, but their success also depended on the quality of the template encountered. Our results indicate the PreCR™ repair kit may be useful for restoring STR profiles from damaged DNA, but further work is required to develop a generalized approach.

Sorting out relationships among the grouse and ptarmigan using intron, mitochondrial, and ultra-conserved element sequences

The Holarctic phasianid clade of the grouse and ptarmigan has received substantial attention in areas such as evolution of mating systems, display behavior, and population ecology related to their conservation and management as wild game species. There are multiple molecular phylogenetic studies that focus on grouse and ptarmigan. In spite of this, there is little consensus regarding historical relationships, particularly among genera, which has led to unstable and partial taxonomic revisions. We estimated the phylogeny of all currently recognized species using a combination of novel data from seven nuclear loci (largely intron sequences) and published data from one additional autosomal locus, two W-linked loci, and four mitochondrial regions. To explore relationships among genera and assess paraphyly of one genus more rigorously, we then added over 3000 ultra-conserved element (UCE) loci (over 1.7million bp) gathered using Illumina sequencing. The UCE topology agreed with that of the combined nuclear intron and previously published sequence data with 100% bootstrap support for all relationships. These data strongly support previous studies separating Bonasa from Tetrastes and Dendragapus from Falcipennis. However, the placement of Lagopus differed from previous studies, and we found no support for Falcipennis monophyly. Biogeographic analysis suggests that the ancestors of grouse and ptarmigan were distributed in the New World and subsequently underwent at least four dispersal events between the Old and New Worlds. Divergence time estimates from maternally-inherited and autosomal markers show stark differences across this clade, with divergence time estimates from maternally-inherited markers being nearly half that of the autosomal markers at some nodes, and nearly twice that at other nodes.

Evaluation of the Precision ID Identity Panel for the Ion Torrent™ PGM™ sequencer

In cases where only a partial or incomplete STR profile is obtained from a sample, information contained in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can prove informative for human identification. Thermo Fisher Scientific, which developed the high throughput Ion Torrent™ PGM™ sequencer, released the Precision ID Identity Panel, a multiplex SNP panel for human identity. We evaluated the reproducibility and sensitivity of this multiplex, which contains primers for the amplification of 90 autosomal SNPs and 34 Y-clade SNPs. The manufacturers protocol was tested using five commercially available pure native DNAs and six forensic type samples at a range of DNA input amounts (0.2-1.0ng; n, 90). In addition to analyzing the data using the manufacturers software, HID SNP Genotyper (v4.3.1), we also used CLC Genomics Workbench (Qiagen). Although library yields and templating of ion sphere particles (ISPs) were low, downstream sequencing was still successful. Across all samples, only 1.5% of all possible quality control (QC) flags were raised by both the plugin QC filter and CLC; 85% of those flags were raised as the SNP had a major allele frequency outside the thresholds specified by the manufacturer. For the remaining SNPs, coverage of >1500 X and >780 X was obtained for autosomal and Y-clade SNPs respectively, and 100% congruence among genotype calls from both analysis programs was observed. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to obtain reliable and reproducible genotypes using the Precision ID Identity Panel, when using low quantities (≥0.2ng) of either pure native DNA or forensic type DNA samples.

Isolation of Mitochondrial DNA from Single, Short Hairs without Roots Using Pressure Cycling Technology

Hairs are commonly submitted as evidence to forensic laboratories, but standard nuclear DNA analysis is not always possible. Mitochondria (mt) provide another source of genetic material; however, manual isolation is laborious. In a proof-of-concept study, we assessed pressure cycling technology (PCT; an automated approach that subjects samples to varying cycles of high and low pressure) for extracting mtDNA from single, short hairs without roots. Using three microscopically similar donors, we determined the ideal PCT conditions and compared those yields to those obtained using the traditional manual micro-tissue grinder method. Higher yields were recovered from grinder extracts, but yields from PCT extracts exceeded the requirements for forensic analysis, with the DNA quality confirmed through sequencing. Automated extraction of mtDNA from hairs without roots using PCT could be useful for forensic laboratories processing numerous samples.

An automated independent workflow for the analysis of massively parallel sequence data from forensic SNP assays

Illumina and Thermo Fisher Scientific have developed assays that permit the sequencing of forensically relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), along with software to determine the associated genotypes. Currently there is no method to either independently confirm the genotypes determined using the manufacturers software, or to compare genotypes and quality metrics among samples processed using both platforms. This paper outlines an automated workflow developed in CLC Genomics Workbench that permits accurate, fast and independent analysis of SNP sequence data from either platform. To facilitate the straightforward comparison of genotypes generated from both the manufacturers software and the independent CLC analysis, a Python script was written. Data for a total of 323 forensically relevant ancestry, identity and phenotypic SNPs can be analyzed, and the resulting genotypes, coverage, quality flags and major allele frequencies are easily compared across samples and platforms.