Inside Front Cover: Chloroplast gene markers detect diatom DNA in a drowned mice establishing drowning as a cause of death

DOI: 10.1002/elps.202000100 The inside front cover shows the importance of diatoms, microscopic unicellular plants in water, as the gold standard in ascertaining a case of drowning. Diatoms are unique, due to their cell wall being made up of silica, which resists degradation; hence, they are found i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electrophoresis 2020-12, Vol.41 (24), p.NA
Main Author: Vinayak, Vandana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Chloroplasts
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Drownings
Error detection
Markers
Molecular biology
Silicon dioxide
Water sampling
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Summary:DOI: 10.1002/elps.202000100 The inside front cover shows the importance of diatoms, microscopic unicellular plants in water, as the gold standard in ascertaining a case of drowning. Diatoms are unique, due to their cell wall being made up of silica, which resists degradation; hence, they are found in drowned victims for many days, months and even years. The conventional method of finding diatoms in drowned victims can be erroneous; hence, molecular biology tools are affirmative. Further selection of PCR markers specific to chloroplasts would be more authentic for detecting diatoms in the biological sample of a drowned victim, since diatoms being microscopic plants have limited degree of similarity with human DNA. Hence, by detecting diatom DNA via chloroplast markers in the right biological sample of a drowned victim and confirming it via sequencing tools can discriminate it as a case of ante‐mortem or post‐mortem drowning, provided diatoms are also detected in the water sample from where the drowned victim's body has been found. Hence, the use of advanced molecular biology tools confirms a case of ante‐ or post‐mortem drowning, thus avoiding manual error arising from detecting diatoms in slides using old digestion methods.
ISSN:0173-0835
1522-2683
DOI:10.1002/elps.202070142