The genome profiling method can be applied for species identification of biological materials collected at crime scenes

BACKGROUND: Various biological materials unrelated to humans are found at crime scenes and it is often important to elucidate the origin of these materials. A genetic locus common to several species is conventionally PCR-amplified with universal primers to identify species. However, not all species can be identified using a single locus. In this study, DNA from 13 commonly handled taxa was analyzed to identify species by a genome profiling (GP) method, which involves random PCR and temperature gradient gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: In a clustering analysis, we successfully obtained a single cluster for each species. CONCLUSION: The GP method is cost-effective and does not require advanced techniques and knowledge in molecular biology. The random sampling of the whole genome using multiple primers provides substantial genomic information. Therefore, the method is effective for classifying a wide range of species, including animals, plants, and insects, and is useful for crime scene investigations. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12863-019-0753-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.