Cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix proteins resist the burning of bones.

Due the proteins from bone remains are highly resistant to pass of time and environmental conditions, they could tell us about the events that probably happened in the past. In the forensic and physical anthropology context, burnt bone remains are one of the most common pieces of recovered evidence and, generally, they are associated with funerary practices, criminal scenes or massive catastrophic events. In the present study, bone pieces of pigs were calcined at different calcination temperatures, and proteins were searched using biochemical, immunochemical and ultrastructure visualization under these experimentally conditions. For this purpose, it was successfully developed a non-demineralizing protein extraction method from burnt bone remains and the use of specific antibodies permitted the identification of different extracellular matrix and intracellular proteins. While collagen proteins type I and IV were identified and detected under middle and high calcination temperatures (300°C and 600°C); cytoskeletal proteins as actin, tubulin and, the microtubule associated protein Tau, were found under calcination process, even up high calcination temperatures. Under ultrastructural analysis, fibrous materials with a classical disposition of collagens were observed even at high calcination temperatures of the burnt bone remains. The protein identification and characterization in burnt bones as performed in present studies, is clearly demonstrating that using specific strategies for protein characterizations it is possible to found protein biomarkers in burnt bone remains and this strategy could be useful for forensic and anthropological purposes.

La proteómica como una nueva herramienta en las ciencias forenses / Proteomics as a new tool in forensic sciences

El uso de nuevas tecnologías como la proteómica permite analizar, identificar y caracterizar péptidos y proteínas provenientes de diversas matrices biológicas y no biológicas, de forma eficiente y reproducible. Esto puede facilitar el desarrollo de nuevos biomarcadores en el área de las ciencias forenses. Los marcadores proteicos son altamente resistentes al paso del tiempo, condiciones ambientales adversas y proporcionan un amplio panorama del estatus fisiológico de los sujetos. El uso de marcadores proteicos reduce sustancialmente la contaminación de las muestras en comparación con el ADN, al tiempo que aporta datos cuantitativos y confiables, que se encuentran respaldados por bases de datos para su interpretación. En este trabajo se hace una revisión de los avances y limitaciones de la proteómica para establecer el origen de los indicios hallados, la causa de muerte, la presencia de patógenos y enfermedades condicionantes o la edad biológica al momento del deceso, el intervalo post-mortem o el origen biogeográfico de un individuo

The use of new technologies, such as proteomics, permits the efficient and reproducible analysis, identification and characterisation of peptides and proteins from different biological and non-biological matrices. This can help in the development of new biomarkers in the forensic sciences. Protein markers are highly resistant to the passage of time and adverse environmental conditions, and could provide a broad overview of the physiological status of the subjects. The use of protein markers substantially reduces the contamination of samples as compared to DNA, while providing quantitative and highly reliable data that are backed by databases for their interpretation. This work presents a review of the advances and limitations of proteomics to establish the origin of the evidence found, the cause of death, the presence of pathogens and conditional disease, as well as the biological age at death, the post-mortem interval, or the biogeographic origin of subjects