Exploiting age information from posttranslational protein modifications and DNA methylation for postmortem age estimation Concept and results of a pilot study

作者：Becker, Julia^*; Naue, Jana^*; Reckert, Alexandra; Boehme, Petra; Ritz-Timme, Stefanie

来源：Rechtsmedizin, 2021, 31(3): 234-242.

DOI：10.1007/s00194-021-00489-2

• D&#8209
• aspartic acid
• Pentosidine
• Massive parallel sequencing
• Epigenetic
• Multivariate analysis

The identification and description of "molecular clocks" (posttranslational protein modifications, DNA methylation) offer new possibilities for the development of methods for postmortem age estimation; however, so far these approaches have only been used independently. Their combination promises a better recording of highly complex aging processes and thus the possibility of developing optimized age estimation procedures for a wide variety of scenarios in forensic practice. In preparation for large-scale research to test this hypothesis, different molecular clocks (accumulation of D-aspartic acid, accumulation of pentosidine and the DNA methylation markers RPA2, ZYG11A, F5, HOXC4, NKIRAS2, TRIM59, ELOVL2, DDO, KLF14 and PDE4C) were examined in 4 decay-resistant tissues (bone, tendon, intervertebral disc, epiglottis) from 15 individuals. In all tissues examined both protein markers as well as several DNA methylation markers showed a strong correlation with age. Thereby, the examined parameters showed tissue-specific changes with age. The results of the pilot study demonstrate the potential of combining molecular methods for postmortem age estimation. Further studies will show how accurate postmortem age estimates might be if age information from posttranslational protein modifications and DNA methylation from different tissues are combined in multivariate models.

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