表观遗传学在法医物证学中的研究现状

Research Status of Epigenetics in Forensic Genetics

表观遗传学是医学与生物学的重点研究方向之一,其本质是探究基因不变化的情况下表达产物差异的问题。法医物证学是研究与人体有关的生物检材并对其进行司法鉴定的学科,生物检材的稳定性受环境条件影响显著,而其价值对科学技术有很强的依赖性。因此,面对复杂情况时,将表观遗传学引入法医物证鉴定体系进行分析将有助于更好地完成法医物证学的任务。本文主要介绍了DNA甲基化、非编码RNA、X染色体失活和染色质重塑等表观遗传学理论,并针对这些理论及相关技术在年龄推断、组织与体液来源推断、同卵双胞胎区分等法医物证学研究和实践中的应用进展进行了综述,希望为相关研究及实践工作提供参考和思路。

Epigenetics is one of the important research directions in both medicine and biology,with the goal of exploring the differences in the expression products without genetic changes.Forensic genetics is concerned with the judicial identification of biological materials related to the human body.The stability of biological materials is significantly affected by environmental conditions,and their values strongly depend on science and technology.Therefore,in complex situations,application of epigenetics in forensic identification will be helpful to better complete the task of forensic genetics.Herein,basic concepts of epigenetics such as DNA methylation,non-coding RNAs,X-chromosome inactivation,and chromatin remodeling were described,and the application progress of epigenetic theories and techniques in the field of forensic genetics such as age inference,tissue and body fluid source inference,and identical twin differentiation was reviewed,hoping to provide valuable information and ideas for related research and practice.