Molecular Identification of Forensically Important Blowflies By DNABarcoding to Effectively Determine Postmortem Interval

Abstract

Objective: To identify blowflies by molecular method of DNAbarcoding and measure post mortem interval by studying their life cycles and calculating time since death retrospectively.
Method: 200 larvae were collected from different cadavers from mortuaries of Lahore that were brought for autopsies from different parts of the city. After DNA extraction, CO1 region of 658bp was amplified using suitable primers. Sanger sequencing was done and all sequences were submitted to BLAST for molecular identification. These sequences were then submitted into BOLD for sequence comparison.
Results: Two species of blow flies were identified Chrysomya megacephala in 142 samples and Chrysomya rufifacies in 34 samples, showing predominance of blow flies feeding on human dead remains.
Conclusion: Molecular identification is better, effective, time saving and more accurate than morphological identification of insects feeding on human dead remains. Forensic entomology is an effective method to
measure post mortem interval when human dead bodies are found after many days unidentified and putrefied.

How to cite: Mona S, Bashir MZ, Ahad A, Nasrullah A, Mubashir M, Mubarak M, Rashid M. Molecular Identification
of Forensically Important Blowflies By DNA Barcoding to Effectively Determine Postmortem Interval. Esculapio -
JSIMS 2022;18(04):248-252