mRNA profiling is an emerging method used for body fluids identification from body stains. The procedure is comprised of the reverse transcription endpoint polymerase chain activity and the real-time polymerase chain reaction. This new technique enhances the detection of several body fluids in a multiplex process and DNA isolation without the material loss (Haas, Klesser, Maake, Bär, and Kratzer, 2009). This method is perceived as an upgrade to the existing methods, such as the enzymatic and immunologic tests, who’s level of sensitivity and specificity rank below this new method.
The test to determine the best technique to use in the field of biology was conducted where the mRNA profiling test was compared to the traditional methods. The samples taken included semen, saliva, blood, vaginal secretions, menstrual blood, and forensic blood samples. (Haas et al., 2009). The methods used in this experiment included; RNA extraction and reverse transcription, endpoint PCR, enzymatic and immunologic tests, capillary electrophoresis, real-time PCR, amplification and detection, and DNA extraction. The samples were each tested through each method to determine their body fluid sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexes. The menstrual blood samples were taken for a whole menstrual cycle while the forensic stains were taken for samples within a two-year period, and only one new technique was used, the endpoint PCR (Haas et al., 2009). The tests were done three times for purposes of confirmation and the results analyzed.
The results illustrated the benefits of endpoint PCR and real-time PCR as they are most appropriate for the body fluids identification in forensics, with the two procedures being relatively the same in terms of sensitivity (Haas et al., 2009). The resulting novels created by the endpoint PCR are Multiplex 1 and multiplex 2, where one is used to screen the forensically most prominent body fluid while the other for blood, menstrual blood and vaginal secretions.
