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Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment 23 (1), 1093 - 1094 (2009)

DEVELOPMENT OF CONDITIONS FOR COMET ASSAY APPLICATION IN FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF RAPE AND OTHER SEXUAL ASSAULTS

R. Miteva1, M. Georgieva2, E. Peycheva2, T. Efremov2, G. Miloshev2

  1. Trakia University, Faculty of Medicine, Forensic Medicine and Deontology, Department of General and Clinical Pathoanatomy, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
  2. Institute of Molecular Biology “Acad. Roumen Tsanev”, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

Correspondence to: G. Miloshev E-mail: miloshev@bio21.bas.bg

Abstract

The problem of personal identity in rape cases is solved by DNA analysis as a standard procedure in forensic laboratories. However, fixing of the exact time of the sexual abuse is still an unsolved issue in the forensic science. Here, we present our attempt to apply the method of Comet assay to measure the kinetics of sperm DNA degradation. Modification of the procedure has enabled us to obtain a good correlation between time of ejaculation and the time of test performance. We see this work as a proof of the principle that sperm DNA degradation could be used as a molecular clock for better estimation of the time when rape has occurred. A vast database built from the work of many laboratories is required in order such a phenomenon to be used in practice by forensic scientists.

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