- Title
- Towards a biological profile for South African perinatal remains: osteological and genetic perspectives
- Creator
- Thornton, Roxanne
- ThesisAdvisor
- Edkins, Adrienne Lesley
- ThesisAdvisor
- Hutchinson, Erin
- Subject
- Identification
- Subject
- Forensic osteology
- Subject
- Methylation
- Subject
- RNA
- Subject
- Autopsy
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68102
- Identifier
- vital:29198
- Identifier
- DOI 10.21504/10962/68102
- Description
- Forensic identification of abandoned and suspected infanticide cases admitted to the South African Forensic Pathology Services is often impossible due to decomposition of the remains. In these cases, investigation of suspected criminal activity is almost never pursued. Ancillary tests in the form of anthropological and molecular analyses can assist with the forensic identification of perinatal remains. To provide fundamental information about bone development of perinatal skeleton, osteological and genetic techniques focusing on the pars basilaris, pars lateralis, sternal rib and left femur were used. Samples were obtained from unidentified and unclaimed remains originating from the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology Service (JFPS). To provide a biological age to individuals in the collection, dental aging was used to categorize remains for comparisons with anthropological and molecular data. A molecular protocol was designed to sex individuals using the X-linked G6PD and Y-linked SRY genes. Bone development was studied using osteometric and morphological data of dry bone remains coupled with bone mineral density analysis (Micro-CT). The methylation levels of CpG rich sites within the promoter region of selected bone-associated genes were incorporated to examine silencing of genes during development. Osteological results support the use of the pars basilaris, pars lateralis and femur for age-at-death estimations as well as provide the foundation for dry bone aging criteria for South African individuals. Data compared with established skeletal aging standards indicated developmental differences between populations. Through the use of animal models and the perinatal sternal rib tissue, insights and precautions into the use of post mortem bone derived RNA for forensic applications is communicated. The methylation status of CpG rich sites within the promoter regions support the hypothesis for interdependent machinery involving selected genes during early bone development.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2019
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (199 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Thornton, Roxanne
- Rights
- Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Rights
- Open Access
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RU Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology (2015-)
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