Identification of forensically important sarcophagid flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) based on COI gene in China

Abstract: Identifing an insect specimen is a crucial step in forensic entomology. As the stages and species of insect discovered on a corpse, such as Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae, provides evidence for estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). However, morphologically distinguish may on occasion be impossible to the adult flies and nymphs of the same genus. A molecular method used the cytochrome oxidase subunits one (COI) sequence on mitochondrial DNA was established for sarcophagid species identification. In this study, a 272 base pair region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coding for COI was investigated for identification of the following forensically important sarcophagid flies. The specimens were from four families, including 8 Boerttcherisca Peregrina (Robineau -Desvoidy,1830) specimens of Boettcherisca, 2 Parasarcophaga similis (Meade, 1876) specimens, 4 Parasarcophaga albiceps (Meigen, 1826) and 8 Parasarcophaga dux (Thompson, 1869) specimens from Parasarcophaga. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that this partial COI region successfully identified all samples species to species group. Low levels of variation between some species indicate that sarcophagid flies from more locations should be studied in the future and local database set up are strongly recommended in China

Systematic comparison of tools used for m6A mapping from nanopore direct RNA sequencing

Direct RNA sequencing using nanopore platform can be used to detect N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications on mRNAs. Here the authors systematically compare tools used for m6A detection from nanopore direct sequencing