Song Binghui, Qian Jie, Fu Junjiang
Key Laboratory of Epigenetics and Oncology, the Research Center for Preclinical Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
Laboratory of Precision Medicine and DNA Forensic Medicine, the Research Center for Preclinical Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
Int J Legal Med. 2024 Mar;138(2):329-350. doi: 10.1007/s00414-023-03091-1. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
At present, epigenetic markers have been extensively studied in various fields and have a high value in forensic medicine due to their unique mode of inheritance, which does not involve DNA sequence alterations. As an epigenetic phenomenon that plays an important role in gene expression, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) act as key factors mediating gene silencing, participating in cell division, and regulating immune response and other important biological processes. With the development of molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, ncRNAs such as microRNA (miRNA), circular RNA (circRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), and P-element induced wimpy testis (PIWI)-interacting RNA (piRNA) are increasingly been shown to have potential in the practice of forensic medicine. NcRNAs, mainly miRNA, may provide new strategies and methods for the identification of tissues and body fluids, cause-of-death analysis, time-related estimation, age estimation, and the identification of monozygotic twins. In this review, we describe the research progress and application status of ncRNAs, mainly miRNA, and other ncRNAs such as circRNA, lncRNA, and piRNA, in forensic practice, including the identification of tissues and body fluids, cause-of-death analysis, time-related estimation, age estimation, and the identification of monozygotic twins. The close links between ncRNAs and forensic medicine are presented, and their research values and application prospects in forensic medicine are also discussed.
目前，表观遗传标记已在各个领域得到广泛研究，由于其独特的遗传方式（不涉及DNA序列改变），在法医学中具有很高的价值。作为一种在基因表达中起重要作用的表观遗传现象，非编码RNA（ncRNAs）作为介导基因沉默、参与细胞分裂以及调节免疫反应等重要生物学过程的关键因素。随着分子生物学、遗传学、生物信息学和下一代测序（NGS）技术的发展，诸如微小RNA（miRNA）、环状RNA（circRNA）、长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）和PIWI相互作用RNA（piRNA）等ncRNAs在法医学实践中的潜力越来越受到关注。ncRNAs，主要是miRNA，可能为组织和体液鉴定、死因分析、时间推断、年龄推断以及同卵双胞胎鉴定提供新的策略和方法。在这篇综述中，我们描述了ncRNAs，主要是miRNA，以及其他ncRNAs如circRNA、lncRNA和piRNA在法医学实践中的研究进展和应用现状，包括组织和体液鉴定、死因分析、时间推断、年龄推断以及同卵双胞胎鉴定。阐述了ncRNAs与法医学之间的紧密联系，并讨论了它们在法医学中的研究价值和应用前景。
