Cadaver Thanatomicrobiome Signatures: The Ubiquitous Nature of Clostridium Species in Human Decomposition

Javan, Gulnaz T.; Finley, Sheree J.; Smith, Tasia M.; Miller, Joselyn; Wilkinson, Jeremy E.

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.02096

Cited by 65 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(54 reference statements)

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“…Postmortem microbial communities, regardless of carcass species, are regularly dominated by bacteria from phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)41) with other phyla such as Verrucomicrobia and Fusobacteria observed with some regularity (39,41,42). The current results complement these studies by demonstrating that bacteria from these same phyla can be cultured under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

An Experiment to Characterize the Decomposer Community Associated with Carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus) on Oahu, Hawaii

Dibner

Valdez

Carter

2019

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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Pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) carcasses were decomposed on the soil surface of a terrestrial habitat on the island of Oahu, Hawaii to begin characterizing the decomposer community. Results showed that carcasses can decompose rapidly on Oahu, primarily due to the activity of fly larvae, with ~80% of mass lost by 8 days (~220 ADD) postmortem. Scavenging was conducted exclusively by the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus), first feeding on larvae then feeding on the remains. Carcasses were habitats of warm temperature, little to no oxygen, slightly acidic/neutral pH, and high sodium concentration. Larval masses selected for a microbial community comprised of multiple bacterial taxa from phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, particularly genera Clostridium, Proteus, and Providencia. These larval masses were well established from 3 to 8 days (~90 to ~220 ADD) postmortem. These data provide helpful, novel insight into the structure and activity of carcass decomposer communities on Oahu.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

An Experiment to Characterize the Decomposer Community Associated with Carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus) on Oahu, Hawaii

Dibner

Valdez

Carter

2019

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…We identified many different taxa as being associated with manner of death, including Lactobacillus , Enterobacteriaceae, Sediminibacterium, Blautia , Rhizobiales, and Clostridium. In several recent postmortem microbiome studies, the clostridia were observed to proliferate postmortem (11, 12), potentially in part due to an increase in available nutrients and energy obtained from fermentation reactions (34). Most Clostridium spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manner of death and demographic effects on microbial community composition in organs of the human cadaver

Lutz

Vangelatos

Gottel

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The microbiome serves important functions in human health, and postmortem, the microbial signatures of colonized organ tissue could be useful in helping to predict the manner of death in cases where this information is not known. We surveyed the microbiota (16S rRNA V4 amplicon sequencing) of 265 organ tissue samples including liver, blood, brain, heart, prostate, spleen and uterus from cadavers in Italy, Finland and the United States with confirmed manners of death comprising either accidental death, natural death, homicide, and suicide. Geographic locality (i.e. nationality) had a strong effect on observed microbial composition. Differing PERMANOVA results between unweighted and weighted UniFrac (nearly inverse results) suggest that specific bacteria may be associated with ethnicity and age, but that these differences are negligible when taking into account the relative abundance of bacterial taxa; weighted UniFrac measures suggest that although taxonomic composition may not vary significantly between different manners of death, PMI, or BMI categories, the relative abundance of specific taxa vary significantly. Various tissues exhibit differential associations with bacteria, and prostate and uterus were substantially different compared to other organs. For example, in Italian cadavers, the bacteria MLE1-12 permeated nearly all tissues, except the prostate and uterus. We identified specific bacterial ASVs as biomarkers of either natural or accidental death and suicide, but not for homicide. While the manner of death may have an impact on microbial associations, further investigation under more controlled conditions will be needed to validate whether these associations are predictive in forensic determinations.ImportanceThe utilization of microbial data in the context of forensic investigations holds great promise for the field of forensic science. Identification of taxa that are associated with postmortem interval (PMI), specific manners of death (MOD), or other traits such as age, sex, ethnicity, and nationality may allow investigators to refine the circumstantial details surrounding the death of an individual. In this study we find nationality (geographic location of cadaver) to be a dominant predictor of cadaver microbiome composition. We also identify a number of cadaver-specific traits to be associated with microbial alpha- and beta diversity, as well as bacterial taxa that are differentially associated with these traits.

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“…For many years, forensic entomology, based on the postmortem succession of insects colonizing the cadaver, has been used for PMI estimation. In the recent years, evidence has been accumulated, proving that microbial communities can also go through successional changes postmortem, paving the ways for its use as PMI indicators (Dickson et al 2011;Hauther et al 2015;Heimesaat et al 2012;Javan et al 2016, b;Javan et al 2017;Metcalf et al 2013Metcalf et al , b, 2017Parkinson et al 2009).…”

Section: Pmi Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial forensics: new breakthroughs and future prospects

Oliveira

Amorim

2018

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Recent advances in genetic data generation, through massive parallel sequencing (MPS), storage and analysis have fostered significant progresses in microbial forensics (or forensic microbiology). Initial applications in circumstances of biocrime, bioterrorism and epidemiology are now accompanied by the prospect of using microorganisms (i) as ancillary evidence in criminal cases; (ii) to clarify causes of death (e.g., drownings, toxicology, hospital-acquired infections, sudden infant death and shaken baby syndromes); (iii) to assist human identification (skin, hair and body fluid microbiomes); (iv) for geolocation (soil microbiome); and (v) to estimate postmortem interval (thanatomicrobiome and epinecrotic microbial community). When compared with classical microbiological methods, MPS offers a diverse range of advantages and alternative possibilities. However, prior to its implementation in the forensic context, critical efforts concerning the elaboration of standards and guidelines consolidated by the creation of robust and comprehensive reference databases must be undertaken.

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Cadaver Thanatomicrobiome Signatures: The Ubiquitous Nature of Clostridium Species in Human Decomposition

Cited by 65 publications

References 47 publications

An Experiment to Characterize the Decomposer Community Associated with Carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus) on Oahu, Hawaii

An Experiment to Characterize the Decomposer Community Associated with Carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus) on Oahu, Hawaii

Manner of death and demographic effects on microbial community composition in organs of the human cadaver

Microbial forensics: new breakthroughs and future prospects

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