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Insights into the Differential Preservation of Bone Proteomes in Inhumed and Entombed Cadavers from Italian Forensic Caseworks

2022; American Chemical Society; Volume: 21; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1021/acs.jproteome.1c00904

1535-3907

Andrea Bonicelli, Aldo Di Nunzio, Ciro Di Nunzio, Noemi Procopio,

Forensic and Genetic Research

Bone is a hard biological tissue and a precious reservoir of information in forensic investigations as it retains key biomolecules commonly used for identification purposes. Bone proteins have recently attracted significant interest for their potential in estimating post-mortem interval (PMI) and age at death (AAD). However, the preservation of such proteins is highly dependent on intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can hinder the potential application of molecular techniques to forensic sciences. The present study aims at investigating the effects that two commonly used types of burial practices (entombment and inhumation) have on bone protein survival. The sample consists of 14 exhumed individuals from cemeteries in Southern Italy with different AADs (29-85 years) and PMIs (1-37 years). LC-MS/MS analyses show that 16 proteins are better preserved under the entombed conditions and 4 proteins are better preserved under the inhumed conditions, whereas no clear differences are detected for post-translational protein modifications. Furthermore, several potential "stable" protein markers (