Estimation of age at death based on quantitation of the 4977-bp deletion of human mitochondrial DNA in skeletal muscle

The 4977-bp deletion in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is known to accumul ate in various tissues with age. Since this deletion in mtDNA correlates cl osest with age in muscle tissue, iliopsoas muscle tissue was taken at autop sy from 50 persons aged 24-97 years to determine whether age at death can b e estimated based on the amount of the 4977-bp deletion in skeletal muscle. Total DNA (nuclear and mtDNA) was extracted from 100 mg tissue and the 497 7-bp deletion quantified using a kinetic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fo llowed by visualization of the products on silver stained polyacrylamide ge ls. The amount of the 4977-bp deletion of mtDNA ranged from 0.00049% to 0.1 4% depending on age, with a correlation coefficient of r=0.83 (P=0.0001). I n forensic practice this method can aid in the estimation of age at death w ith a relatively wide confidence interval, thus enabling a discrimination b etween young and elderly persons in the identification of human remains bas ed sorely on skeletal muscle. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All ri ghts reserved.